http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33490121/ns/today-today_books/Hulk Hogan, as big a star as professional wrestling had ever spawned, had reached the end. For days he sat in his empty mansion, mixing rum and Xanax, shattered by an impending divorce and a family tragedy, holding a gun to his head and thinking about how little force it would take to pull the trigger and end it all.
Hogan’s friends and fellow stars of a revival of “American Gladiators” knew he was depressed and called him to see if he was all right. He lied and said he was, even as he moved closer to a final exit. That’s when his “Gladiators” co-star, Laila Ali, came to the rescue.
“All of a sudden the phone rang, and it was Laila, and she said, ‘Hey, what’s going on? You’re on the set. You’re all depressed. We’re worried about you. You going to be OK?’