Winter Olympic champion Torah Bright details her darkest chapter and her marriage breakdown

WINTER Olympic champion Torah Bright has revealed feeling like she “didn’t deserve life” amid the shock death of her closest friend and the collapse of her marriage.

WINTER Olympic champion Torah Bright has lifted the lid on her darkest chapter in which she battled grief, personal turmoil and a deep depression that left her on the brink of a breakdown, all while trying to regain her champion status.

The 27-year-old snowboarder, who had delighted audiences on Dancing With The Stars until her exit this week, has just released her memoir It Takes Courage.

In it, she shares intimate details about the period in which she battled to get back her expert form on the slopes, all the while coping with a crumbling marriage and the sudden, tragic death of her closest friend.

Back from the brink ... Torah Bright’s battle with grief and sorrow was the backdrop to her desperate bid to regain champion status. Picture: Brett Costello

It was the start of 2011 and Bright was having a “low impact year” after the gruelling lead-up to the Winter Olympics the year before, at which she won a gold medal, but her personal life was in tatters.

HITTING BACK: Torah slaps down critics who claim she had a negative attitude at Sochi

Her marriage to American snowboarder Jake Welch was under intense strain and they were “not experiencing the marital bliss that some newlyweds talk about”.

“Of course, there were some lovely times, but mostly it was heart-wrenchingly hard.”

In crisis ... Torah Bright and Jake Welch on their wedding day in 2010. Picture: Facebook

The couple enlisted the help of a marriage counsellor and in the end saw three different therapists in a bid to save their troubled union.

It was this, coupled with Bright’s diminishing form, that sparked a deep depression that would haunt her for years to come.

REALITY TV: Torah Bright labels Dancing with the Stars judge Todd McKenney a bully

“If there was anyone that put a genuine smile on my face during that period though it was Sarah (Burke). She could occasionally coax me out of the darkness to have fun and laugh and fool around at those events.”

Best friend ... Canadian ski champ Sarah Burke was Torah’s closest friend, but tragically died in January 2012.

Burke was a Canadian champion skier and the two girls forged an incredibly strong bond. They were due to begin training together in a bid to restart Bright’s career, when tragedy struck.

On January 10, 2012, Burke was involved in a serious accident on the slopes at Park City in Utah that would take her life.

WINTER OLYMPICS: Torah reveals she didn’t train for two months ahead of Sochi

“She was surrounded by a group of people and was being resuscitated. Then she was flown to hospital. I jumped in my car and jumped down the mountain.

“After ten of the longest days of my life, we were told that Sarah would not make it. We all said our goodbyes and left her in the hospital with her family.”

Climbing back ... Torah Bright was determined to regain her form and compete again, amid immense personal turmoil. Picture: Matt Georges

Welch was away and “had no plans to come home” so Bright was left mostly alone to deal with the immeasurable loss and her deep grief.

“I felt I didn’t deserve life; that I wasn’t appreciating what I had. I was angry and thought it was wrong that Sarah was taken from this world.

“I wished with every fibre of my strength that it had been me.”

Her mother finally intervened and arranged for Bright to see a psychoanalyst, who worked with her on untangling her complex emotions.

Healing process ... Torah’s mum insisted she seek help and enlisted a psychoanalyst, who began the process of healing many emotional wounds.

“I realised once and for all that my marriage was making me miserable,” she writes.
“When personality types differ so greatly, each other’s basic and essential life needs cannot be met ... I started to see clearly what I had to do. I filed for divorce.”

On the advice of her therapist and lawyer, Bright had no further contact with her husband after telling him the marriage was over, and their respective legal representatives handled all elements of the separation after that.

Another Olympics ... Torah went on to compete in the Sochi Games this year and won silver in the Half Pipe. Picture: Splash News

“Letting go was painful but difficult. However the intense relief I felt alongside the grief signalled that this was the right move.”

Bright went on to complete in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games and won silver in the Half Pipe.

It Takes Courage is published by New Holland and is on sale now.