OTTAWA -- A media report says Senator Patrick Brazeau once attempted suicide.
The Ottawa Citizen quotes Brazeau as saying he tried to kill himself last January amid legal and financial troubles.
In an interview with the newspaper, Brazeau said he didn't feel he had a good reason to live.
The Citizen report says Brazeau sent a picture of some of his wounds from a meat cleaver to a girlfriend who asked a neighbour to check on him.
The neighbour reportedly saw him through a window in his home and called 911 who took him to hospital.
Brazeau told the Citizen that at the time he regretted that he failed in his attempt to kill himself, but now feels differently.
"I'm just glad to be alive ... and I'm a damn lucky guy I still have my family with me," he told the Citizen.
Brazeau faces charges of fraud and breach of trust in connection with his Senate expense claims.
He has pleaded not guilty to those charges but has not been tried.
Last year Brazeau pleaded guilty to reduced charges of assault and possession of cocaine after a more serious charge of sexual assault was dropped because the Crown said it did not have sufficient evidence. He received an unconditional discharge.
He was kicked out of the Conservative caucus after he was charged and has not been in the Senate since he was suspended in 2013. His salary is being clawed back to repay nearly $50,000 in disallowed housing expense claims.
