Cleveland Cavaliers star Kevin Love is the league’s unofficial spokesperson on mental health issues. Recently, the 30-year-old Cavs big man spoke about the controversial subject yet again. This time around, he shined a light on how men tend to keep things to themselves, and how this may ultimately contribute to problems with one’s mental well-being.
Per Joe Vardon of The Athletic, Love explained why in his mind, he believes that men are so far behind in terms of being able to speak openly about their innermost sentiments.
“There’s been so many movements — whether it be LGBT, civil rights, #MeToo,” Love said Thursday. “I feel like men are so far behind that we need to allow ourselves … to speak a different language in a way. And that’s being better men, holding ourselves accountable, but also to be vulnerable and to speak our truths. Because nothing haunts, nothing haunts like the things we don’t say.”
Love speaks from experience here. It was only recently that he went public with his panic attacks and bouts of depression. For so long, he kept all this to himself, under the notion that “real men” are expected to “suck it up.”
However, since Love opened up about his own personal issues, there has been an outpouring of support not only for himself, but for a lot of other players who were inspired by his story to also speak freely about their own struggles.
Love remains one of the more talented big men in the game today, but with his recent advocacy, he has now established himself as an important social figure who continues to take on an extremely relevant issue at hand.