Marshall and his struggle with the mental illness were profiled Saturday in the South Florida Sun Sentinel by Omar Kelly. The 27-year-old two-time Pro Bowler says treatment this summer has saved his life.
“I have a dream home, two nice cars, three beautiful dogs, but I haven’t enjoyed one part of it,” Marshall says. “And it was hard to understand why.”
The National Institute of Health defines BPD as:
A serious mental illness characterized by pervasive instability in moods, interpersonal relationships, self-image, and behavior. This instability often disrupts family and work life, long-term planning, and the individual’s sense of self-identity. Originally thought to be at the “borderline” of psychosis, people with BPD suffer from a disorder of emotion regulation. While less well known than schizophrenia or bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness), BPD is more common, affecting 2 percent of adults, mostly young women.
Marshall has been under scrutiny this summer after his wife was arrested once for allegedly stabbing him in the abdomen with a knife in April, then again on June 10 for violating a protection order when it was discovered that she was living in the couple’s Florida home.
At the time, Marshall was in the midst of three months of therapy and psychological examination at Boston’s McLean Hospital, were he was diagnosed with BPD.
“Before this ordeal I kept asking God to show me my purpose. He gave me this,” Marshall says. “I’ll be the face of BPD. I’ll make myself vulnerable if it saves someone’s life because I know what I went through this summer helped save mine.”
Marshall has been in therapy for years — league-mandated and otherwise — and has been consistently in trouble with the law since his days at the University of Central Florida.
Since 2004, he has been arrested for assault on a law enforcement officer, suspicion of domestic violence, driving under the influence of alcohol, misdemeanor battery and disorderly conduct.
In January 2007, Marshall was leaving a Denver nightclub with Denver Broncos teammates and Javon Walker and Darrent Williams when Williams was fatally shot in the neck by a man outside of the club.
