- Johnny Manziel said he did drugs and lost 40 pounds. after his NFL career ended
- In conversation with Shannon Sharpe on Club Shay Shay podcast, the Heisman Trophy winner reflected on his past struggles
- Manziel said he let down LeBron James and Drake, among others, and apologized for his actions
Johnny Manziel looks back on a chapter in his life where he says he lost 40 pounds. while on a “strict blow diet” and ignoring LeBron James’ phone calls.
On the guest spot with Shannon Sharpe Club Shay Shay podcast, the former Cleveland Browns quarterback revisited the troubled time following his exit from the NFL following the 2015 season.
“I weighed 210 lbs. when i left cleveland i weighed 170 lbs. sat in Vegas that August, September and October,” said Manziel, 31. “How do you lose 40 pounds? You’re on a strict smoking diet.”
The Heisman Trophy winner couldn’t come to terms with his depression and drug use at the time, he said.
Johnny Manziel reveals past suicide attempt after ‘escalating’ drug abuse: ‘I just felt empty’
“At that point, man, I would look in the mirror and I didn’t see myself any different than when I was in Cleveland,” he said. “I didn’t even realize I’d lost 40 pounds until I stepped on the scale at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas.”
The quarterback was once a breakout star in the NFL, but his struggles with sobriety led to him being fired by his agent and then released by the Cleveland Browns.
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Johnny Manziel. Andrew Weber/Getty Images
In his conversation with Sharpe, Manziel also took responsibility for the consequences of his actions.
“There were a lot of people that I let down,” Manziel said, referring to his longtime friendship with Drake and James. “And I really feel like him and LeBron are the people that I really let down.”
Shortly after arriving in Cleveland after two years at Texas A&M, Manziel linked up with basketball star and sports marketing guru friend Maverick Carter.
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Manziel was billed as “the greatest thing” to happen in Cleveland sports history, but the reality was far from that.
“What I did, the way I carried myself and the way I was in Cleveland was pure, open disrespect for them [James and Carter] giving me everything I’ve ever needed to be successful,” he said.
And in bad moments, Manziel recalled that he couldn’t shake his depression or adjust to the “fishbowl” aspect of the NFL spotlight.
“LeBron would text me every week to come over to the house and watch the game or play poker with the guys and just try to be there,” Manziel said. – And I was so depressed for the first time in my life that even my greatest role model and inspiration in life couldn’t get me out of bed to come hang out with him.
Now years later, Manziel said the last few months have turned his life around — and that he’s “probably the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.”
“It’s easy to let ego and fame and that sort of thing creep back in,” he said. “I kind of isolated myself with a team I can trust of people I love who do nothing but ask for my best wishes, best regards. They know me, they don’t let me cheat, they hold me accountable and they won’t do it overnight. It’s going to be a slow, gradual process to get to where I want to be as a man.”
He added, “I feel like I’m on the right track to where I need to go as Johnny Manziel, not as Johnny Football.”
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Source: HIS Education