After struggling with depression, injuries and the natural process of aging, Houston Astros pitcher Justin Verlander might not be a World Series Champ today — if not for his wife, supermodel Kate Upton.
“Who knows,” Verlander told Bleacher Report, “if I’m even here if it wasn’t for her?”
Upton reportedly visited with Verlander while he was recovering from a frustrating surgery, going to the store to buy remedies for his discomfort from constipation — “His parents say that was the moment they knew they loved me,” Upton told the magazine. The couple also played fiercely competitive games of Yahtzee until he was back to the mound.
Even then, things would get worse before they’d get better. Verlander “really thought it was the end” after he was pulled following the first inning of a game in Pittsburgh during the 2014 season. His coach ordered him to get an MRI on his shoulder.
“There’s that tunnel down there, and I sat down and lost it,” Verlander told MLB.com at the time. “I thought my career was over. I thought I was done. I thought the MRI was going to say I needed shoulder surgery.”
Though he didn’t need it, Bleacher Report writes that Upton was instrumental in helping Verlander through his tough times.
“She was instrumental in me not…like, jumping off a bridge,” Verlander said. “I was depressed and kind of just upset at the world and trying to hide my own shit.”
“F-ck, man,” he added, his voice reportedly shaky. “She was what I needed.”
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