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Mike Tyson has revealed that he is on the verge of dying from alcohol and drug abuse after years of lying about being sober.
The former heavyweight champion made the startling revelation while at a press conference to promote ESPN’s Friday Night Fights at the Turning Stone Resort in Verona, New York on Friday.
‘I’m a bad guy sometimes,’ he said. ‘I did a lot of bad things, and I want to be forgiven… I wanna change my life, I wanna live a different life now. I wanna live my sober life.
‘I don’t wanna die. I’m on the verge of dying, because I’m a vicious alcoholic.’
After realizing what he had shared, he paused before adding that he has not consumed alcohol or drugs in six days, which he called ‘a miracle’.
‘I’ve been lying to everybody else that think I was sober, but I’m not,’ he admitted. ‘This is my sixth day. I’m never gonna use again.’
Tyson’s struggle with alcohol and drugs has been well documented; he has been in and out of rehab three times.
He has also admitted that around five years ago he was contemplating suicide and overdosing – just before his four-year-old daughter Exodus died on May 26, 2009 when she was strangled by a cord while playing on a treadmill. He said that the tragedy served as a wake up call.
‘I didn’t think I’d be here much longer,’ Tyson said. ‘I was planning on killing myself. I was overdosing every night. I couldn’t believe it – that I was waking up. Living life is different for me.
‘I had to change my life. It’s been hell, but I’m happy to be alive.