Iron Mike Tyson deserves to be re-christened ‘Lyin’ Mike Tyson’ after he has admitted what many close to him have suspected for years. Tyson revealed that he is on the verge of dying from alcohol and drug abuse after years of lying about being sober.
Appearing on TODAY, the former world heavyweight champ elaborated on the startling confession he made at a New York press conference to promote ESPN’s Friday Night Fights on August 23.
“It’s a real challenge because…I don’t know if I like this sober guy.” Tyson told interviewer Matt Lauer. “It’s hard for me to live normal. Straight is hard. Livin’ straight life is hard.”
Tyson confirmed he was still sober a week after the New York press conference, when he admitted: “I’m a bad guy sometimes. 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.”
He then revealed that he had experienced an epiphany and had not drunk alcohol or used drugs in six days, which he referred to as ‘a miracle’.
He went on: “I’ve been lying to everybody else that think I was sober, but I’m not (..) This is my sixth day. I’m never gonna use again.”
Put on the spot regarding his admitted failures, Tyson has tried to come to grips with his personal pain.
“Oh, 100 percent,” he told Lauer. “No one failed more than I did. Nobody’s seen more than I’ve seen. I’m the king of the barbarians. There’s no one that could surpass me, and the pain I’ve endured. But I can deal with it. I can handle it.”
When Tyson returned to his old Brownsville, Brooklyn neighbourhood for a TV taping, serious emotions came flooding back.
“It told me a lot — I found out a lot about myself,” Tyson told Lauer. “I’m still a scared little boy. Still afraid. I’m very vulnerable. I was very vulnerable. Being in Brownsville, evoking memories and places I’ve done things to people that — shootouts, robberies — and, you know, think of things I may have done to people here.”
Tyson has been in and out of rehab three times and admitted that, around five years ago, he was overdosing and contemplating suicide. The death of his 4-year-old daughter in a tragic domestic accident in 2009 brought him back from the brink, but his substance abuse has been ongoing.
“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.”
