Former England and Liverpool star Danny Murphy has revealed he was threatened with being outed over his year-long addiction to cocaine after retiring from football.
During a recent episode of the Ben Heath Podcast, Murphy, 47, admitted he struggled to come to terms with retirement after hanging up his boots in 2013, and as he dealt with financial problems and the breakdown of his marriage to actress Joanna Taylor, he turned to cocaine.
Murphy, who won two League Cups, the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup with Liverpool, had previously written about his cocaine addiction in his column for Mail On Sunday, but in an appearance on talkSPORT on Wednesday he claimed he nearly didn’t get the chance to go public on his own terms.
‘It’s not why I did it [went public] but there were people in my past who did use that threat,’ Murphy said.
‘Not that it ever happened. For me, the delay in talking about it for the three or four years that I did was the kids. But they’re cool and I spoke to them last night about it.’
Danny Murphy revealed on talkSPORT that people threatened to out him over his year-long cocaaine addiction before he went public
Danny Murphy has spoken openly in recent days about his addiction to cocaine after retiring from football
Murphy won the League Cup twice, FA Cup and UEFA Cup with Liverpool, but struggled to come to terms with retirement
The former midfielder also won nine England caps across his impressive time in the game
Murphy went on to explain why he did eventually decide to open up about his struggles with addiction.
‘It always felt like it was hanging over me a little bit,’ he continued.
‘It took me a few years to get to a comfortable place to be able to share and actually not worry about the repercussions. The kids were older, the kids knew about, I’d spoken to them. That was probably the biggest thing.’
Murphy, who also played for Crewe Alexandra, Charlton, Tottenham, Fulham and Blackburn during his glittering 20-year career, also admitted his opinion on drug addiction had changed following his own experiences.
‘Before I had problem with myself, I did judge people,’ he said.
‘I used to think well if you’ve used drugs or you’re depressed then you’re weak, there’s something wrong with you. You’ve got no resilience. Get a grip of yourself.’
Murphy’s remarks on talkSPORT on his past addiction, years after his retirement, came less than 24 hours after his appearance on the Ben Heath Podcast aired on YouTube.
The ex-midfielder told Heath: ‘I had a spell on cocaine and smoking some weed. 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), yeah. I got to the point where I thought I couldn’t do things without it. Which was nonsense, of course I could.
‘You manage it initially, you do it once a week, twice a week, do it an extra third day and eventually it builds up and grabs hold of you.’
Murphy stated that he did previously judge people with drug addictions before he had his own issues
Murphy admitted his post-retirement struggles on the Ben Heath Podcast, and revealed he turned to therapy for support
After the brave confession, Murphy explained how going to individual and group therapy, coupled with finding a purpose in punditry, helped him to overcome his problems.
He added: ‘You get some help and start understanding behaviours and patterns. When I got help, I put myself around people who have been through it. I did a bit of therapy and group work.
‘Therapy was good. You’ve got to be in, you’ve got to be prepared to go deep and not everyone is because you’ve got to be in for an emotional rollercoaster in therapy.
‘Not everyone is, especially if you’ve had a traumatic life. And it’s (the whole process) made me a better person.’
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