- The Washington Times - Monday, February 26, 2018

DeMar DeRozan of the Toronto Raptors opened up about his struggles with depression in an interview with the Toronto Star published Sunday.

DeRozan first made an allusion to his depression with a tweet during NBA All-Star Weekend:

The Compton, California, native and former USC star has played for the Raptors for all nine years of his NBA career, and the team has been a contender for much of that time.

“This is real stuff,” DeRozan said in part. “We’re all human at the end of the day. That’s why I look at every person I encounter the same way. I don’t care who you are. You can be the smallest person off the street or you could be the biggest person in the world, I’m going to treat everybody the same, with respect.”

Though DeRozan is not likely to become a visible advocate for mental health awareness, he also said he is not ashamed of his condition, either.

“Even if it’s just somebody can look at it like, ’He goes through it and he’s still out there being successful and doing this,’ I’m OK with that,” DeRozan said.

DeRozan joins several well-known public figures who have recently addressed their own struggles with depression and mental health issues, including rapper and Maryland native Logic and “Saturday Night Live” actor and comedian Pete Davidson.

• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.

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