By Felix Keith
Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy has admitted that he turned to cocaine and weed as a form of escapism after retiring from football.
Now a successful pundit and a regular on BBC's Match of the Day, the 47-year-old opened up on his personal problems, which have included losing millions of his earnings, dealing with his father's death from lung cancer and addiction issues. "It was coke with me, I had a spell on cocaine and smoking some weed," he said on the Ben Heath Podcast.
He added: "The drink, I could live without it. I wasn't an alcoholic. I could sit in a house with alcohol and not drink it. "For a while, I was [addicted to cocaine], because I got to the point where I didn't feel like I could do things without it, which was nonsense, of course I could.
"But what you do, anyone will tell you, with any drug or addiction, you manage it initially. You might do it once a week, twice a week, give yourself an extra third day and then it just quickly (spirals). When I got help I put myself around people who had been through it.
“I did a bit of both (therapy and group sessions to get help). I had done therapy previously before I had any problems actually when I first stopped playing because I thought it would be beneficial but I didn't stick to out, which I maybe should have done.
"Therapy was good. It was good, you have got to be in, you have got to be prepared to go deep and not everyone is, because it's an emotional rollercoaster therapy, it really is, especially if you have had a traumatic life.
"The group stuff is great, go to a few group meetings and stuff, whether it be alcohol or drugs or gambling. The biggest thing about being other people who have had problems with it is you lose the shame and guilt.
"You know that shame of, 'Am I the only one who is so weak? Am I the only one who has let themselves get to that? There are guys that I have met who have had a lifetime of trauma because of certain addictions and stuff.
"I probably had a year of being in a world of pain and they kind of look at me and go, 'You know what you should be really grateful you have only had a year'. And I'm like, 'I'll listen to that I'll take the good.'"
Murphy came through the Crewe Alexandra academy and spent four years in the club's first team before getting a move to Liverpool in 1997. He spent seven years playing in the Reds' midfield, helping the club win the FA Cup and League Cup and went on to play for Charlton, Tottenham, Fulham and Blackburn and earn nine England caps before retiring in 2013.
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