The former WWE champion says he contemplated suicide during a dark period that saw wife Linda divorce him and son Nick go to prison.He also credits Muhammed Ali's daughter Laila with saving him.
Hulk, 56, makes the revelations in his new book My Life Outside the Ring.
He tells how one evening, after downing a lethal cocktail of Xanax and rum, he grabbed a loaded gun and contemplated using it on himself.
Luckily at that point Laila — his co-host on TV show American Gladiators — called and he says their chat stopped him pulling the trigger.
The grappler turned reality TV star recalled: "There were times when I thought that a whole bottle of pills would go down easy. Then I noticed the gun in my hand.
"I was careless with it. I kept my finger pressed right to that trigger and if I moved that finger an inch in the right direction, I would have blown my brains out."
Hulk puts his suicidal thoughts down to the depression he suffered as a result of his break-up with Linda after 23 years of marriage.
He also blamed a car accident involving Nick that got him sent to jail and left his best pal John Graziano — who Hulk considered a second son — brain damaged as another reason for his downward spiral.
After hearing about the incident for the first time yesterday, Laila said: "I do remember working with Hulk on the set of American Gladiators and he was going through a hard time, going through a divorce with his wife.
"I did call him from time to time when we were shooting the show for whatever reason and I did offer him lots of words of inspiration and support."
She put the timing of the call, as Hulk was contemplating ending his life, down to "divine intervention".
