Hulk Hogan breaks silence on his 'devastating' N-word controversy and says he had suicidal thoughts

Hulk Hogan begged for forgiveness and understanding from fans in his first interview since being fired by the WWE for using racial slurs on a recently surfaced tape.

"I'm not a racist," Hogan aka Terry Bollea said in an interview with ABC's GMA on Monday. "I never should have said what I said. It was wrong. I'm embarrassed by it. But, a lot of people need to realize that you inherit things from your environment."

The 12-time wrestling champion said that his upbringing in South Tampa contributed greatly to who he is and the language he used on that tape.

"It was a really rough neighborhood, very low income," Hulk said. "And all of my friends, we'd greet each other saying that word. The word was just thrown around like it was nothing."

On top of that, he said he was very angry at his daughter and at her ex-boyfriend for something he was doing when the tape was made. Plus, he was dealing with depression at the time. "I wanted to kill myself," Hogan said.

"Oh my God, please forgive. Please forgive me. I'm a nice guy. It's not the Hulk Hogan who rips his shirt off, bang, bang, bang, bang, and slams giants. I'm Terry Bollea. I'm a normal man."

In addition to firing Hogan, WWE wiped its site of all images and mentions fo the champ.

"Everything I've done, my whole career, my whole life was like it never happened," he said.

"Oh my gosh, it was devastating," he later added.

Later, the wrestler's daughter, Brooke Hogan, wrote a poem in her father's defense. Talking about that brought Hogan to tears.

"She should have been the one to throw me out like the trash," he said. "Instead, she showed me more love than anybody."

Watch the interview below: