Former WWE Superstar, Kurt Angle, recently appeared on The Austin Show, where he talked about his past addiction to painkillers. The Olympian gold medalist further went on to claim that he entered drug rehabilitation, only to help him with a DUI case.
Kurt was introduced to painkillers, back in 2003, after he broke his neck in a match against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania XIX. He also recalled upon how he hid his drug addiction from WWE and its Chairman Vincent Kennedy McMahon.
"I remember taking that first pill and I was like, 'well, this makes me feel really good. I feel like I can take on the world and I can't feel my neck.' I was hiding it from WWE. I know there were times I was slurring. Vince, Vince McMahon, was like, 'are you alright?' I was like, 'oh yeah, I'm fine.' I really shrugged it off. And then, I made him think that he was going crazy."
Here is the video in which Angle broke his neck, also note that he caters to his neck after Lesnar counters the Ankle Lock:
‘The American Hero’, further went on to reflect on his predicament, claiming he took copious amounts of Vicodin, which sometimes notched up to 65 doses a day.
"Literally, by the middle of 2003, I was taking 65 extra strength Vicodin a day."
The proponent of 'intensity, integrity, and intelligence.' recalled how he took prescriptions from 12 different doctors. He also maintained a book just to keep a tab of pharmacies from where he purchased the pills. Angle notes that he went back and forth between different pharmacies, just to avoid any suspicion.
Also read: Kurt Angle says Brock Lesnar broke his neck twice in WWE
Angle also spoke about his failing marriage with Karen Smedley, and how wrestling was the only thing that was on track at that moment of his life. He could not risk losing that and thereby underwent a short procedure which kept him out of action only for three months, instead of a previously assessed one year recovery time.
"I was in a really bad marriage. My ex knew I was pounding painkillers and she couldn't stop me. I just kept doing it and I always wanted to be on the road because it was the only thing that was going right for me. And I think the reason I got so caught up in the painkillers is because the only thing that was going right for me was being taken away from me because of my neck.
Interestingly enough, Angle notes that the real motivation behind his drug rehabilitation visit was the fact that his lawyers told him it would help in his DUI case.
Even though he went to rehab only to support his DUI case, Angle claims that once he reached there, it was a different story altogether. He learned a lot at the rehab, which laid a foundation for him to get over his addiction.
In the end, rehab worked out pretty well for ‘the wrestling machine’.
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