Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman said he has been bullied into returning to work amid his ongoing mental health struggles.
The Democratic senator, 55, said his doctor “warned years ago” that going public with his mental health struggles would invite criticism.
“After it’s public that you are getting help for depression, people will weaponize that,” Fetterman told The New York Times. “Simple things are turned. That’s exactly what happened.”
“It shook me that people are willing to weaponize that I got help,” he added.
Fetterman also dismissed many of his senatorial duties, such as casting procedural votes and participating in committee work, as “performative.”
Fetterman sought treatment for depression in 2023 at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. On the heels of his treatment, last year Fetterman proceeded to miss more Senate votes than all but two senators: now-Vice President JD Vance and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who were both busy campaigning, the Times reported based on an analysis of the Senate’s roll call records.
Fetterman has also reportedly looked to avoid confrontation with his Democratic colleagues amid very public shows of cozying up to President Donald Trump.
NBC reported that Fetterman refused to meet with Sen. Patty Murray of Washington after he signaled that he was open to confirming Trump’s embattled Secretary of Defense pick, Pete Hegseth.
“He figured that she wanted to yell at him about it,” said one source familiar with the situation.
Top Senate Democrats reportedly held emergency meetings to strategize on how best to help Fetterman amid a bombshell report from The New York Magazine shedding new light on the depth of his health struggles after a May 2022 stroke.
“Every time I see him, I’m worried about him,” one source said. Fetterman rebuked the article as a “hit piece.”
Another NYT analysis of Fetterman’s attendance this year found that the senator was the third most absent senator behind Murray and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Murray has been caring for her sick husband while Sanders has been speaking out against Trump’s agenda on his “Fighting Oligarchy Tour.”
Fetterman called being away from his family “the worst part of the job.”
Fetterman compared all the fretting over his mental health to media interest in 73-year-old Bill Belichick’s relationship with 24-year-old pageant contestant Jordan Hudson.
“This became the Belichick girlfriend story of politics,” Fetterman said. “It just keeps going and going.”
