Talk about a game changer. Jay Glazer, Fox Sports’ NFL Insider for its pregame studio show and Fox NFL Sunday, and Michael Strahan, TV host, journalist and former pro football player, have been best friends for three decades.

They shared pretty much everything, but there was one aspect of his life Glazer was holding back: His bouts of depression and anxiety, his clinical bipolar disorder and ADHD—he collectively calls the phenomenon he experiences when they take over “The Grey”—which he’d spent most of his life attempting to mask.

“You don’t want that guy out in public,” says Glazer, speaking from New Orleans where he’s gearing up for coverage of Super Bowl LIX between the Kansas City Chief and Philadelphia Eagles.

“I would go hide when that depression and anxiety and bipolar kicked in, or I would take a bunch of [drugs]

and drink. I’d rather go out and get in a fight and get in trouble than tell anyone what I had.”

Five years ago, Glazer made a bold move that would change their relationship, and his life.

“Michael and I were supposed to go to dinner, and that beast got out of the box. When that happens, I feel it in my gut, I feel it in my ribcage, I feel it in my joints and I am not a nice human being to be around. You know, hurt people hurt people. And that’s what I would do in the past,” he says.

“But for the first time ever in 30 years, I told Michael I can’t go out tonight, and I told him why. And he said, ‘Do you want to talk about it?’ and I was like, wow, I do but not right now because it’s kicking my butt pretty bad and I need to sleep this one off.’ And he said, ‘Why have you never told me this?’ And I said, ‘Dude I don’t make up the rules of this thing and with you I was ashamed because we’re so competitive.

“And he said one of the most profound things that any person has ever said to me in my entire life. He said, ‘By you not talking about it has taken away my chance to be your best friend for 30 years. You had help sitting right next to you.’ I get emotional talking about it, that was his first answer, he wanted to lift me up.”

That breakthrough has both brought Glazer even closer into a tight circle of chosen family that also includes Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.

“He’s buddy of mine, and I told him going down to the Super Bowl here, I said, bro, the roommates in my head are probably not going to get along too nicely because I’m going to get pulled in a million directions. When you’re on TV and you don’t use a teleprompter and your ADHD is going crazy, it’s scary He’s checked up on me every single day since I’ve been down in New Orleans. Numerous times. And same thing, when he has his meltdowns, I check on him and make sure he stays connected to me.”

It’s also empowered Glazer to publicly share his story, most saliently by writing a book, Unbreakable, published in 2022, and through training he provides to coaches, athletes and others.

“What I’ve tried to do now is weaponize my ADHD, my depression, my anxiety and figure out where do they serve me, where do they help,” he says. “It’s allowed me to do six things at once. I’m the Insider on the No. 1 [NFL pregame] show in America, I’ve started several charities, I’ve trained about 1,000 athletes in mixed martial arts, I’m a spokesman for different things. No, I can’t sit and listen to a three-hour lecture, but a lot of people who can do that can’t do what I do.”

He sums up his perspective like this: “Look, I’m not a teacher, I’m not your doctor, I’m not clergy, I’m not your parent. I’m just a dude who’s messed up, who’s learned to be good with his messed-upness. And you don’t have to have my level of all these issues to feel it.”

Glazer says his parents started him in therapy at age 5 but the focus was on what was wrong with him. “Early on, I was always in trouble and always ashamed. I was the issue. I wish little Jason had the words that warrior Jay now uses. I could’ve explained myself better and not spent so much damn time in my room getting grounded.”

Officially diagnosed with ADD in 1989, he says he started taking prescription medications then and has tried more than 20 options through the years—currently the rx Qelbree is helping—and the early seeds for the need to break stigma were planted. “As a freshman in college I would have to go to my professors and explain I have this thing and I would have to go outside the classroom and take a pill. And none of them believed me. That went on for a long time.”

Today, he’s going full-throttle in a realm that still has a long way to go in supporting mental wellness. “I come from the world of football and fighting. I was one of the first guys in the NFL to fight professional, mixed martial arts, and I kindof look at like, No one’s questioning my manhood so I can be as vulnerable as I want. Vulnerabiity is really the strength, not what I can do in the cage or wrestling or something along those lines.”

For coaches, Glazer paints a picture of what living with ADHD feels like. “For your players who have ADHD, the way it feels when we’re in a meeting, because meetings for these teams go on for a while, it feels like we’re drowning and the only way for us to get a breath of fresh air is to disrupt, is to have an outburst, is to just walk out, is to speak, is to fidget…So, change the way you teach and coach them.”

For the NFL, he offers this advice: “You guys have 15 physical trainers and strength coaches but you have one therapist three days a week even though the whole sport is the six inches between your ears. I say, mental health is so reactive; I need you guys to take a proactive stance.”

On social media, he’s come a long way from the first time he posted about his diagnoses leading up to his book launch. “I said, I created this character ‘The Glaze’ for all these years, always laughing and joking, but the truth is I have depression, anxiety, bipolar, all of it and if anybody out there who has any of this, drop a comment. We’ve got to walk this walk together.’ I didn’t know what the reaction was going to be, I was really nervous.”

In less than a minute, he says, Chicago Bears tight end Marcedes Lewis, whom Glazer started training in MMA 15 years ago, popped into his comments.

“He says, ‘Coach, I knew you were crazy and that’s a badge of honor for bull fighting, but I didn’t know you were in pain I’m sorry. I’ve got you. Marcedes Lewis has checked upon me twice a week every week since then.”