HULK HOGAN SAYS LAILA ALI SAVED HIS LIFE!

Hulk Hogan came "damn close" to killing himself after downing a cocktail of Xanax and rum, but an unexpected phone call saved his life.
In his new tell-all, "My Life Outside the Ring," the notorious wrestler-turned-reality-TV-star admits he hit rock bottom after his divorce from ex-wife Linda, even reaching for a gun and putting his finger on the trigger. Fortunately, a phone call from his "Gladiators" co-star Laila Ali, who noticed that Hogan was looking distracted earlier at work, prevented him from ending his life.

Although the wrestler admits that a combination of "going to [a] strip club, drinking, getting all that attention from girls" and coming back to an empty home that night in December 2007 is what nearly pushed him over the edge, he does believe his wife of 23 years was the cause of his distress. "Hell, [Linda's] spending time with a 19-year-old boyfriend - in the house that I pay for," he writes of his ex's alleged dalliances with student Charlie Hill.

Hogan also claims that Linda is an alcoholic who was abusive to their kids - he says he once found her threatening to beat their son, Nick, with a wine bottle. The incident occurred after the then-17-year-old's widely reported car crash in 2007: Nick was behind the wheel of his dad's Toyota Supra when he lost control and hit a median, wrapping the sports car around a tree. In the tome, out Oct. 27 from St. Martin's Press, Hogan for the first time discusses the legalities of the accident - and complains about some of its possible repercussions: The former WWF champ says a civil suit being brought against him by the family of Nick's passenger - who is now permanently brain-damaged - is "for more money than I've made in my whole career."

Hogan's bank account already took a hit after his July 2009 divorce settlement with Linda, who walked away with a promise of $40,000 a month. But the cash isn't the only thing Hogan didn't want to part with. He recalls: "I practically begged her, 'Please, don't file. Our son's just had this accident - if we do this now, it'll make us look like the Britney Spears family. Please, don't file for divorce.'"

But Linda did - and the rest, as they say, is history. At least they have six seasons of "Hogan Knows Best" chronicling their highs - and the lows they tried so desperately to hide. "In public, we were all having the time of our lives, but that public image only further masked the problems that were growing behind the scenes," Hogan writes. "There were plenty of times when Linda would lose it, but no one wanted to see that kind of ugliness on TV."