Mike Tyson said he is a “vicious alcoholic”
and on the verge of death after years of
lying about his drug and alcohol use. The former heavyweight made the
revelation during a press conference in
Verona, New York, to promote ESPN’s Friday
Night Fights. According to the Daily Mail, Tyson told the
presser: “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.” Tyson went on to say he had spent the last
six days sober, a situation he described as
“a miracle”. “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.” Tyson has had a highly public battle with
drug and alcohol addiction, having spent
three separate stints in rehab. However, in
an interview last year he claimed he had
been sober for three years. In the press conference he also admitted he
had contemplated suicide five years ago but
that the loss of his four-year-old daughter,
Exodus, who died in 2009 after strangling
on a cord while playing on a treadmill, had
acted as a wake-up call. “I didn’t think I’d be here much longer,” he
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
