One of Brett Favre’s greatest achievements in his career — winning Super Bowl XXXI — also brought him one of the darkest moments of his life.
The Hall of Fame quarterback and Green Bay Packers legend revealed on his podcast, “Bolling With Favre” that his addiction to painkillers nearly cost him his life after winning the Super Bowl.
Favre told the story to his guest, Dr. Phil, saying it was the lowest moment of his life.
“I was home in Mississippi. I was as low as I could possibly be,” he said. “Even though I had won the Super Bowl, won the MVP – actually won three MVPs in a row. …. But I was low. I said, ‘It’s one of two things: I die, or I flush these pills down the toilet.’
“I sat by the toilet for two hours. Eventually, I dumped the pills in the toilet, flushed them and I almost wanted to kill myself for doing that. I could not believe I had actually done that. I was so mad at myself because now what was I gonna do?”
Favre said his addiction began in 1994 after an injury and he began taking two pills a day. Eventually, teammates began helping him get more and more painkillers where Favre says he was “basically taking in two days, a month’s prescription, which is crazy.”
The former quarterback knew he had an addiction when he suffered from two seizures due to complications from his pill intake in 1995 and checked himself into rehab.
Yet, it still took Favre until that moment to flush the pills down the toilet to fully combat his addiction. But the battle did not end there.
“I spent the next two weeks – it was really not the way you want to come off pain pills [because] it could kill you – I shook with cold sweats, hot sweats every night at 9 o’clock I just shook,” he said. “Because every night at 9 o’clock was when I took them. No matter where I was or what I was doing I would take the pills at 9 o’clock.”
Favre was able to slowly beat the addiction and continue on with his Hall of Fame career until he retired after the 2010 season following stints with the Jets and Vikings.
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