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The High Performance Podcast

Callum Wilson: Opening Up About His Haunted Past and the Battles You Didn’t See (E353)

The High Performance Podcast

High Performance

Sports, Self-improvement, Mindset, Growth Mindset, Health & Fitness, Non-negotiables, Education, Life Lessons, High Performance

4.84.7K Ratings

🗓️ 26 May 2025

⏱️ 77 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Callum Wilson is a Premier League striker known for his sharp finishing and explosive pace on the pitch; but off it, he has an equally powerful story. 


Warning: this episode contains themes of suicide and trauma.


In this episode, Callum opens up about the darker side of his upbringing, including dealing with suicidal thoughts as a teen and the emotional scars that came with growing up in chaos. He reflects on how football gave him a sense of direction and purpose when everything else felt unstable.


He also shares the impact of Eddie Howe, who became a father figure, and how therapy helped him face long-buried trauma. From two ACL injuries to mentoring younger players, Callum reflects on resilience, growth, and staying grounded.


This episode dives into mental health, fatherhood, football, and the power of second chances.


If you, or someone you know who's struggling - please call Samaritans on 116123 or CALM on 0800 58 58 58.


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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Don't forget next week's episodes are available early exclusively on the high performance app.

0:04.8

Out now, one of the Premier League's most experienced managers, Sam Allardyce, opens up about his

0:10.4

England heartbreak.

0:12.8

I'm running towards the ball, but as I've stopped to try and turn, it honestly felt like

0:17.0

someone had blew it off of a shotgun.

0:18.5

I went down again in agony and just said, get me off this pitch.

0:21.3

You have to try and fall in love with the process of returning from injury.

0:25.9

Ultimately, what defines us is how wow we rise after falling.

0:29.7

When I say I cried myself to sleep, I was just praying to God, take me out of this environment.

0:33.4

I want to become a football.

0:34.5

Football really was my saviour, I think.

0:39.8

That is the voice of Callan Wilson, who we all know as one of the Premier League's top strikers,

0:44.5

but the story and the pain behind his journey is something that he's never spoken about until now.

0:50.7

But please be warned that from the very start of this episode we discuss themes of suicide and trauma

0:55.5

and in the description to this episode you'll find links to platforms and people who can help you

1:00.7

if you or someone you know is struggling. It's conversations like this one, Damien, that I honestly

1:06.7

believe move the dial for so many people when it comes to opening up about their mental health.

1:12.2

Absolutely, but it's important to state it's a conversation about hope. Callum reveals how,

1:17.5

from the depths that really moved us, he managed to find hope, resilience and a renewed sense

1:23.5

of purpose. He also told us how he's now learning to find answers in therapy and what he'd

1:29.3

learn around the challenges that he faced on the field, as he had to battle back from too devastating

1:34.6

ACL injuries. And crucially, you'll also hear Callum reveal to us that the bigger his struggles

...

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