Representative Thomas H. Kean Jr., the New Jersey Republican who disappeared from Congress and the campaign trail in March with almost no explanation, said Tuesday that his lengthy hospitalization had been to treat depression.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeveral months ago, due to health concerns, I entered the hospital for some testing,\u201d he said in a short speech on the House floor during his first day on Capitol Hill since disappearing more than 100 days ago. \u201cI was given the diagnosis of depression.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Kean added: \u201cMany people think it is feeling sad. It is so much more than that. It is physical, it is emotional, and until you experience it yourself,\u201d he said, it is hard to understand \u201chow powerful this illness could be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Kean, a 57-year-old seeking a third term in a competitive district, has missed more than 100 votes since he was last seen in public in March. He broke his silence on Tuesday with formal remarks during a morning period of speeches that are delivered by lawmakers to a mostly empty House chamber.<\/p>\n
Members of Congress typically use the speeches, limited to five minutes and offered mostly for the record, for things like eulogizing constituents who have recently died or celebrating events in their districts.<\/p>\n
For Mr. Kean, who described himself as a private person who struggled to share his own journey, it was a deeply personal speech.<\/p>\n
He said his doctors had told him the fastest way to recover was to stay in the hospital. \u201cI was hesitant,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t think I had time for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
And he said that when he had told his constituents he would be gone just a few weeks, he had believed that was the timeline.<\/p>\n
Mr. Kean, who said he was a \u201cprivate person by nature,\u201d as a way of explaining why he had not shared more earlier, said that \u201casking for help is not a weakness, it is a strength.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that he was healthy and returning to work with the full support of his doctors.<\/p>\n
\u201cRecovery is possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The format allowed Mr. Kean to say only what he wanted to about his long absence, avoiding the questions that journalists \u2014 and many of his own colleagues \u2014 wanted to ask. Earlier in the day, he had been silent in the hallways of the Capitol as reporters asked him where he had been, why he had not been more transparent about his health condition and whether he was still fit to serve.<\/p>\n
Before his remarks, Mr. Kean sat alone in the House chamber, flipping through the pages of his speech that he held in his lap in a leather folder.<\/p>\n
Mr. Kean\u2019s reappearance was closely watched after months during which he and his staff refused to disclose anything about where he was or what was keeping him away. Their silence built Tuesday\u2019s return into a major reveal after a prolonged cliffhanger.<\/p>\n
Some of his colleagues appeared less than thrilled about how he had chosen to handle the situation. Speaker Mike Johnson indicated that he had urged Mr. Kean to share more about his condition earlier, to avoid rampant speculation. He told reporters that he had \u201cencouraged him many times over the last few months\u201d to be more transparent about his health.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it were me, I would have been more specific about that,\u201d he said, noting that Mr. Kean\u2019s condition was very common.<\/p>\n
In the absence of official information, his own colleagues had speculated wildly about Mr. Kean\u2019s health, privately raising an array of possibilities.<\/p>\n
Mr. Kean had said only that he was dealing with a \u201cpersonal medical issue,\u201d and until recently offered no timeline on his return, only vague assurances that when he did come back, he would be fully recovered and open about what he had been through.<\/p>\n
He also was scheduled to participate in a fund-raising reception on Tuesday evening in Washington, according to an email obtained by The New York Times that confirmed an earlier report by Politico<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mr. Kean has invited some Republican officials to participate in a 2 p.m. conference call on Tuesday, according to multiple people who were invited. The people said they expected he would have to address the health issue in some way.<\/p>\n With an election in five months, Mr. Kean\u2019s months of silence have tested the limits of what the public will tolerate in terms of privacy for its leaders.<\/p>\n