{"id":66285,"date":"2023-05-12T13:14:23","date_gmt":"2023-05-12T13:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/12\/i-lost-myself-to-alcohol-for-7-years\/"},"modified":"2023-05-12T13:14:23","modified_gmt":"2023-05-12T13:14:23","slug":"i-lost-myself-to-alcohol-for-7-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/12\/i-lost-myself-to-alcohol-for-7-years\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I Lost Myself To Alcohol For 7 Years’"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan has said he \u201clost himself\u201d for seven years to alcohol and drugs, and came to learn that \u201chappiness is an inside job\u201d.<\/p>\n

The seven-time world champion has had well-documented issues with drink, drugs and depression.<\/p>\n

He was stripped of the Irish Masters title in 1998 after testing positive for cannabis, and in 2000 entered rehab to treat his addictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are massive gaps,\u201d the 47-year-old told BBC Radio 4 Today.<\/p>\n

\u201cI lost six, seven years to drinking and taking cannabis. Then four years of dealing with stuff away from the table which I didn\u2019t deal with very well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t focusing on snooker. But I suppose everyone has those problems, but there\u2019s 10 years there where I didn\u2019t really do much. I didn\u2019t practise much, I didn\u2019t have the headspace to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

World number one O\u2019Sullivan won his seventh world title in 2022 but was knocked out in the quarter-finals of this year\u2019s tournament by eventual champion Luca Brecel.<\/p>\n

During his lowest points, O\u2019Sullivan \u2013 whose parents were sent to prison during his teenage years \u2013 said he relied on alcohol and cannabis to \u201cget through the day\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI lost my personality and confidence and needed to take substances just to feel like I could socialise,\u201d said O\u2019Sullivan, whose latest book \u2018Unbreakable\u2019 was released on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen you get clean, and you become awkward in social situations and you think \u2018how do I deal with these situations?\u2019 You get a bit anxious and it started to affect me in certain ways. How do I live clean?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was weird \u2013 I had to learn to do all that stuff again. It took time but once I got there, I realised you have to carve out a different life for yourself. Maybe I\u2019m not suited for X, Y and Z.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan has said he \u201clost himself\u201d for seven years to alcohol and drugs, and came to learn that \u201chappiness is an inside job\u201d. The seven-time world champion has had well-documented issues with drink, drugs and depression. He was stripped of the Irish Masters title in 1998 after testing positive for cannabis, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":66286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n'I Lost Myself To Alcohol For 7 Years' - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/12\/i-lost-myself-to-alcohol-for-7-years\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'I Lost Myself To Alcohol For 7 Years' - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan has said he \u201clost himself\u201d for seven years to alcohol and drugs, and came to learn that \u201chappiness is an inside job\u201d. 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