Dallas County DA Susan Hawk talks openly about depression

Dallas County District Attorney Susan Hawk sat down Thursday with FOX 4’s Shaun Rabb to talk about her absence, battle with depression and her thoughts of suicide.

Q: HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY SUSAN?

I feel great. I feel great. I feel healthy, I feel stronger than I ever have. A lot of big things happened to me in the last five years, in the last eighteen months. Stepping down from my job as a judge, I got divorced, my new job, when the entire rehab story broke out. I think that I wasn’t even recognizing or understanding what it was but towards the end of July, I realized it had become unmanageable for me.

Q: DID YOU LEAVE OFFICE IN JULY IS THAT WHEN YOU STARTED TAKING TIME OUT MID TO LATE JULY?

Late July that’s when I really I mean it’s a slippery slope and once you get there you go down fast.

Q: IS THAT WHEN THOUGHTS OF SUICIDE HAPPENED?

It’s a weird way to explain it, but it became almost soothing to me, like there was a solution, there was a way out.

Q: YOU TALKED ABOUT PEOPLE IN YOUR OFFICE THAT YOU THOUGHT WERE, I’LL SAY, SABOTAGING YOU. DO YOU THINK THAT WAS ACTUAL OR DO YOU THINK THAT WAS PART OF WHAT YOU WERE EXPERIENCING WITH YOUR DEPRESSION? I don’t know who you’re referring to. I say that what I can tell you about what was going on with me, I had depression for so long that was untreated and I became extremely anxious and when you become extremely anxious and you don’t treat it, one of the symptoms of anxiety is paranoia.

EYEBROWS WERE RAISED WHEN HAWK FIRED HIGH PROFILE PROSECUTORS INCLUDING HER HAND PICKED FIRST ASSISTANT BILL WIRSKYE.

Q: WERE THOSE TERMINATIONS SOLID TERMINATIONS OR WERE THEY CLOUDED BY WHAT WAS HAPPENING WITH YOU? I believe that they were solid terminations they were not clouded by what was happening.

Q: WHEN YOU CAME INTO THE OFFICE LAST WEEK HOW DID THAT FEEL BACK IN THIS PLACE? It was great. You can see there’s a sign over there everybody signed. I got flowers. Everybody was so kind. I love this courthouse, I mean, we've known each other for over twenty years. This has been my home as a prosecutor, as a judge, the district attorney's office is my home. I love this place, so to be back here is where I belong.

Q: CAN THE PUBLIC DEPEND ON YOU NOW?

Absolutely.

Q: HOW DO YOU BUILD THAT TRUST AGAIN OR DO YOU NEED TO?

Well I think it’s not what you say, it’s what you do and I just want to be given the opportunity to do.

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