Bicycle champion Bradley Wiggins says he is a cocaine addict and is lucky to live
Former Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins revealed that he has been addicted to cocaine since he retired from cycling.
In an interview with the British newspaper Observer, the five-time Olympic gold medalist said he was lucky to be alive.
“Sometimes my son thought I would be found dead in the morning,” said the 45-year-old Wiggins. “I'm a fully functional addict. People don't realize it. I've been high most of the years.”
The British cyclist is a gold medalist in four consecutive Olympic Games since 2004 and won the Tour in 2012. He retired in 2016.
In 2022, he filed charges in an interview with Men's Health magazine that he was sexually modified by a coach who did not reveal his name when he was 13 years old.
In the upcoming autobiography, chainWiggins details how his life has fallen into debt and addiction cycles after he retires from the sport.
Wiggins told Observer that his cocaine addiction turned into a “very bad problem” and that he was “walking a tightrope”. The newspaper said he resigned a year ago.
“I already have a lot of self-hate, but I'm amplifying it,” he said. “It's a form of self-harm and self-destruction. It's not the person I want to be. I realize I'm hurting a lot of people around me.”
