OPENING UP

Andrew Gillum Says He Battled Booze, Depression After Loss to Ron DeSantis

“All the things I wanted to suppress and numb and forget about.”

In his first public statement since entering rehab, former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum said his 2018 loss to now-Gov. Ron DeSantis plunged him into depression and a battle with booze. “I didn’t want to talk emotionally or really deeply about what happened in the race for governor because it was a constant reminder of failure and my own personal failures,” Gillum said in an Instagram video. “It was a reminder that I let so many people down. All the things I wanted to suppress and numb and forget about, that depression around what I was experiencing there became far too much for me to keep down.”

The Democrat went into rehab after he was found in a hotel room with two men and crystal meth, which Gillum said he never used. Gillum apologized for letting down supporters and thanked his wife, “a woman who knows everything that I am and everything that I am not and she chooses to love me anyhow. I can’t thank her enough for not just standing by me but encouraging me through this.”