Terry Bradshaw Lived with Anxiety Attacks and Extreme Emotions. Now, He’s Opening Up About ‘Surviving’ with Depression

“There’s nothing wrong with admitting you’ve got issues,” Bradshaw tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue while opening up about his new memoir

Credit :Ariana Gomez

NEED TO KNOW

Terry Bradshaw discusses his mental health journey in his memoir, Looking for Terry, out Tuesday, Oct. 13
The former Steelers quarterback tells PEOPLE that seeking help from professionals and a pastor changed his outlook
His wife, Tammy, helps him through difficult days, which they refer to as visits from “Roy”

Terry Bradshaw is getting better with age. Slowing down is “not for me,” the 78-year-old tells PEOPLE on a sunny day at his horse breeding ranch in Saint Jo, Texas, last month.

His wife of 12 years, Tammy Bradshaw, echoes the sentiment: “There’s no sitting still.”

The couple spoke with PEOPLE ahead of the Tuesday, Oct. 13 release of Bradshaw’s memoir, Looking for Terry. In it, the four-time Super Bowl champion is completely candid about his lifelong journey with clinical depression, as well as his football career and what came after, like his recent back-to-back cancer diagnoses.

“If you read the book and you get some good out of it, then so be it,” Terry, 78, says. “There’s something to be learned from this book.”

Growing up in Shreveport, La., Terry writes in Looking for Terry that he had undiagnosed ADHD (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder) and, later, grappled with anxiety attacks. As he made a name for himself as the quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Terry experienced extreme emotional highs and lows — which he explained away as normal. “You didn’t talk about it,” he tells PEOPLE.

As a prominent male athlete, he struggled with the stigma of accepting that he wasn’t okay. “Finally saying, ‘Hey, I’m really f—-d up. I need to get some help,’ ” was one of the “hardest things” Terry ever did. Working with a therapist, psychiatrist and a pastor helped.

Terry Bradshaw with the Pittsburgh Steelers circa 1970.Bettman Archive/Getty

Terry was formally diagnosed with depression in the late ‘90s, after his retirement from football and as his Emmy-winning broadcasting career really took off. Tammy, whom he met in the early 2000s and married in 2014, was also transformative for understanding how to talk about his mental health. The former radiation therapist, 65, helped Terry reframe it: “This is not a choice. This isn’t the consequence of something you’ve done. It’s not your fault.”

“It is an ugly disease,” Terry tells PEOPLE, which is why, he says, having a “good support group” is important.

Some days, Terry says he’ll tell Tammy, “Hey, I’m not having a good day.” She is well-versed in how to help him through those moments: “She just gets me out of it. She gets my mind off of it. She frees me up. We do something. We talk about it.”

“I may be emotional about it, but I’m totally comfortable with telling her,” he continues. “Men think that’s a weakness. I got past it being a weakness. It’s a sickness.” Adds the Fox NFL Sunday host, “There’s nothing wrong with admitting you’ve got issues.”

Tammy tells PEOPLE she can “see it in his eyes” when Terry is having a hard time. In fact, the couple has put a name to it: “Roy.” In the tough moments, they both acknowledge that “Roy” has come to visit.

The former athlete and dad of three, who has found “peace” breeding horses on the 155-acre Texas ranch he and Tammy bought in 2023, hopes that those who read Looking for Terry see that he’s not trying to “hide myself from people.”

Terry Bradshaw and his wife, Tammy, in September 2026.Ariana Gomez

“Tammy says I’m an open book,” he says. “I like being an open book.”

He also hopes it’s educational about what depression can look like, and that those struggling are inspired to open up about it to their loved ones and medical professionals.

The cover of “Looking for Terry.”.

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“Terry is not what people think they know,” says Tammy, “[He is] always looking and always becoming.” Says the football legend: “I’m proud of myself for making it through and surviving.”

Looking for Terry: A Memoir from HarperCollins is available for purchase.