Australian boxing star Harry Garside has opened up on the toll that domestic violence allegations levelled against him took during 2023, revealing that he was on the verge of suicide.
Garside, 26, was arrested by NSW Police in dramatic scenes at Sydney Airport as he returned home with his father after shooting the reality TV show I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! in South Africa earlier last year.
Police dropped the charges against the boxer in a Sydney court after his legal team produced video evidence they said showed his ex-girlfriend was the alleged aggressor during an incident on March 1.
Garside had steadfastly maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings that had been brought against him.
Garside’s ex-girlfriend, was later arrested at her Bellevue Hill home in July and charged with assaulting and intimidating her former partner.
False domestic violence allegations led boxer Harry Garside to have suicidal thoughts
Garside was accused of domestic violence in 2023, but charges were later dropped
Garside has now spoken about the awful toll the allegations took on him, revealing his mum was the reason he didn’t take his life.
‘I feel like I turned into a man last year. It was a real coming-of-age moment for me,’ he told the Neil Mitchell Asks Why podcast.
‘I had never contemplated suicide so much in my life from that period of time.
‘Being in the public eye … not wanting to leave the house, it was so, so heavy. And the added element of trying to show the people around me that ‘I’m fine, I’m fine, I’ll get through this’.
‘[But] it was all just thoughts of not wanting to be here. Only reason I didn’t was my mum. The one day where it wasn’t just thoughts, it went to be action, it turned out to be Mother’s Day … I just remember thinking how selfish I would be if I was to do it on that day.
‘I was really contemplating, I was gonna drive my car into … I’m sorry.
‘I hate revisiting this stuff. I was gonna go do something stupid and I just kept reminding myself that it’s Mother’s Day.
The Aussie boxing star says his mother is the reason why he is still here today
‘And mum would have to be reminded of that for the rest of her life.
‘That her son’s not here and he did it on this day.
‘So I didn’t do it.
‘And I’m so grateful that I didn’t do it … But absolutely, I was in the depths of hell through that period.’
After winning bronze at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Mr Garside has made it no secret that he’s going after Australia’s first Olympic gold medal in boxing at the Paris Olympics later this year.
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