PDA

View Full Version : Kurt Angle Talks In-Depth About His Struggle With Addiction



Kemo
05-09-2017, 09:45 PM
Kurt Angle has come a long way. His professional accelerates speak for themselves. After winning an Olympic gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics, Angle went on to have a legendary WWE career during the Attitude Era and has firmly cemented himself as an all time great. He’s back on top in WWE as a Hall of Famer and the General Manager of WWE RAW. He’s got a beautiful wife and 5 children he adores. Angle has a lot to be proud of, but he’s also had his personal challenges.

Angle struggled with addiction for over a decade and almost lost it all as a result. He became addicting to pain pills, was drinking heavily and was arrested for four DUI’s in five years.” He’s now sober 4 1/2 years and is using his experience to help others stay clean. For those unaware, Kurt Angle launched AngleStrong, an initiative to assist recovering addicts stay in recovery. You can learn more at AngleStrong.com and below.

Angle posted a lengthy message on Instagram this week detailing his battle with addiction and his mission to help others struggling with the deadly disease:

“I’ve been clean and sober for 4 1/2 years. My battle with addiction lasted over a decade. I remember the day that my wife came to me and said “I love you. But I can’t be with you anymore if you continue to pass out every night. It’s sad to see you ruining your life and missing out on our children growing up.” “I’m sorry, but if you don’t get clean, I’m leaving you,” she told me. “I don’t want your money. I just want to protect my family.”

Wow! I didn’t realize how bad I was. You never do when you’re in the middle of hardcore addiction. But having 4 DUIs in 5 years also showed me there was a horrible pattern. The fact that each DUI charge was reduced to reckless driving or thrown own just gave me an excuse to keep using.

So I decided to go to rehab, and it was the best decision I’ve ever made. In rehab, you have so much structure. After one week of very, very difficult withdrawal symptoms, I was feeling great. The routine was 8 hours of sleep. Wake up. Exercise and yoga. Breakfast (healthy meals). Addiction prevention class. Lunch. Class again. Dinner. Meetings. Music time. Then sleep.

But what happens when you get out? You’re released back into the world where you became addicted. That’s why 95 percent of those in recovery relapse. There’s no structure after rehab, except for AA/NA meetings, which can be difficult if you’re a husband, father, career man, and celebrity, not to mention very private.

I struggled nights with what I could do to help others stay in recovery after rehab. It took me 4 years to come up with a solution. And that’s AngleStrong. AngleStrong is an initiative to assist recovering addicts stay in recovery. Go to the AngleStrong.com website to read about it. I’ve helped to create an app that any recovering addict can follow daily to stay in recovery.

It’s easy: Sign up, fill in your profile, answer the questions each day, sign up your lifelines to help support you in recovery and go to the chat line to converse with other recovering addicts. It has daily reminders, positive daily messages, a monthly video call with me answering your questions, and it’s GPS enabled so that we can find you if you relapse. This is Anglestrong! We will win!!”