While speaking to The Daily Star, Jake Roberts discussed his drug and alcohol addiction. Here are some highlights from the interview:
“I was pretty destined for that, it ran in my family. The actual reason it happened was because I was still hiding. You can’t spend your life hiding, you really can’t. It’s very hard to go through life having been sexually abused and try and keep that hidden from everybody. I was ashamed of being molested, I was ashamed of where I came from, it was horrible. I was on one hand this larger-than-life character, but in reality I was a very scared little boy that didn’t know what was going to happen to him next. The best way to get over it is to get a lot of counselling and bring that stuff to the light. Life was very rough; I was doing drugs every day, I was doing cocaine and drinking at least 12 beers a day. I did cocaine to forget and then I did the alcohol to come down from the high of cocaine, it was total misery.”
“I was waiting to die and actually wanting to die. I was tired of living that way. I was so ashamed to be out in the public eye, I didn’t go out during the day. I only went out late at night; sometimes at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning to get food and stuff, I didn’t want anyone to recognize me. I started to work out, I was doing DDP Yoga every day. I wasn’t eating crap anymore. It had been so long since I had been healthy, it was insane. I was 310 pounds and in a very short time I dropped 20 pounds, in like five weeks. It was the spark that I needed to live again. DDP Yoga gave me the opportunity and the need to dream again.”
“Even when I had the shoulder injury I didn’t give up. I wanted to but my addiction was saying to me: ‘You’re not worthy of having a good life. Your shoulder’s screwed up, you don’t have the money to have surgery. You’re gonna wind up with me again, your only buddy, your addiction.’ The addiction wanted me to fail, it doesn’t want you to be successful, it doesn’t want you to be happy, it wants you dead, that’s what it wants. But in less than 24 hours, we had enough money to take care of my shoulder, I couldn’t believe it. In one day, the fans stepped up and showed me how much they cared, it’s still so surreal. I didn’t think that was ever going to happen. Not because of what I did inside the ring, but for what I’ve done outside the ring. The Hall of Fame was a fabulous moment. To have so many of my children and grandchildren at the induction was great. It seemed like full circle, I’m back where I belong, it’s good to smile again.”
Advice to people with addiction problems:
“The first thing they have to do is to get honest with themselves and the people around them and then seek help and get the right plan. They could work out because it gets the blood flowing and the endorphins moving again. I suggest DDP Yoga because anybody in the world can do it. I know people in wheelchairs that are doing this and it’s making a difference because it makes you feel like you have accomplished something, you start winning again. Once you start feeling better about yourself, you’ll notice that there’s not quite the need to drink and do drugs. Normally, the reason why we do that stuff is to forget things and mask the pain. Helping people is so cool, it feels so awesome when I open their eyes to a better way of living. A life without drugs or alcohol. I get the best high of my life by telling people these stuff.”
Click here for the full interview.
