Bailey Smith has revealed that the pressure to keep his Instagram-famous sixpack was one factor in an avalanche of stress that hit him so hard he ended up spending six weeks getting professional help in a mental health facility.
The 24-year-old has had a torrid 12 months as he battled through a serious knee injury, endured a relationship break-up and dealt with the fallout from his switch to Geelong after spending the first five years of his career with the Western Bulldogs.
Smith confessed he turned to alcohol while he ‘fell into a bad spiral’ after doing his knee and breaking up with his girlfriend of two years, Gemma Dawkins, last August.
His high-profile split with the Dogs added fuel to the fire as fans turned on him and drove a wedge between him and his old teammates while the injury made it impossible for him to use footy as a ‘mask’.
‘When you have to sit with yourself and be your own source of entertainment, fulfillment, stimulation, that’s when I had to look inward and realise, “S**t, I am pretty f***ed up and I need to sort my s**t out,’ he told the Real Stuff podcast.
‘I got into some bad ways going flat-out after my knee [injury] and getting on the p**s and being an idiot, which we all do, but that’s my coping mechanism.
Geelong star Bailey Smith is well known to fans for flaunting his sixpack on Instagram (pictured) – but his physique isn’t always a source of pride and joy for him
The 24-year-old has revealed that the pressure to live up to supporters’ expectations about his body left him feeling ‘poisoned’
‘I really had to look inward … that’s when I found out that f***, there’s nothing much to look inward here, other than a bit of a s**t storm.’
Adding that he ‘lost a lot of relationships’ over his move to Geelong, the Cats star revealed he spent the six weeks at the facility seeing psychologists every day and meditating.
‘There were multiple times where I thought [this is] rock bottom but then you find out rock bottom keeps going for a bit.’
Footy fans who follow Smith on Instagram are used to seeing him flaunt his enviable physique – but if they reckon it’s a source of pride and joy for him, they’re wrong.
‘It’s hard, because I get this recognition for how you look and Instagram following for how I look, not football initially,’ he said.
‘It’s hard not to attach your identity to that and self-worth and worry about how many abs you’ve got and all that sort of bulls**t.
‘It got a bit poisoned by feeling like I was doing it to live up to the expectations of others and not because I loved fitness and exercise.’
Smith explained he’s ‘never been more content and at peace than I am now’ after relocating to a 15-acre property near Geelong, where he can ‘sit and be zen’.
Smith is one of the AFL’s best after 11 rounds of the season and says the move to Geelong has left him more content than he’s ever been
The midfielder has opened up about spending six weeks in a mental health facility after a string of setbacks including his break-up with ex-girlfriend Gemma Dawkins (pictured together)
His Bulldogs split was the talk of the AFL in the lead-up to last Thursday’s clash with the Cats, which Geelong won.
Smith stirred the pot ahead of the match by taking a shot at the Dogs for playing in front of just 5000 spectators when they took on Port Adelaide in Ballarat last month.
He apologised to Ballarat locals by arranging for more than 2000 cans of grog to be handed out for free in one of the town’s bottle shops.
Smith was in hot water after the Cats’ win when he talked about the possibility of celebrating a win with a few ‘nose beers’ – slang for cocaine – in a comment on Instagram.
One follower asked the midfielder if he’d had ‘nose beers after the game mate?’.
Smith responded by writing ‘na bro, after the flag maybe tho’, with the comment coming after he admitted he was holding a bag containing a white powered drug in a photo that went viral after the 2021 season.
That saw him get slammed by AFL CEO Andrew Dillon.
‘We are talking with Geelong and talking with Bailey and we wouldn’t want to see it again,’ Dillon said.
‘He delivered the comments, he put up an apology and I absolutely don’t condone it. Drug use is a serious thing and shouldn’t be joked about.
‘If he has time again, I’m not sure he’d do it.’
However, AFL Players Association boss Paul Marsh cautioned the league against overreacting.
‘I took it as something that was tongue-in-cheek,’ Marsh said.
‘Maybe [given his] time again he wouldn’t do it but at the same time we don’t want to take down a guy for actually showing personality.’
Smith’s split with Gemma Dawkins came after he first confirmed their romance in May 2022.
The couple made their public debut at 2023 Derby Day in Melbourne.
