Germany goalkeeper Robert Enke had been suffering from depression, his widow said Wednesday, one day after the Hannover captain threw himself in front of train.
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Speaking at a news conference called by his club, Teresa Enke said her husband was afraid their adopted daughter would be taken away from the family if his illness became public knowledge. The couple's biological daughter died three years ago from a heart problem when she was 2.
"I tried to be there for him," Terese Enke said.
Enke died Tuesday evening when he threw himself before a train near his Hannover home. Police said Wednesday they had found a suicide note, with no indications the death was anything but a suicide.
A doctor who teated Enke said the goalkeeper first sought treatment in 2003, when he lost his starting place at Barcelona. He had been treated daily for several months, doctor Valentin Markser said.
In a suicide note, Enke apologized to his family and the staff treating him for deliberately misleading them into believing he was better, "which was necessary in order to carry out the suicide plans," Markser said.
"Despite daily treatment for months, we did not succeed in preventing his suicide," the doctor said.
