Chad Johnson has never been one for alcohol, and with good reason. During an appearance on Theo Von’s This Past Weekend podcast, the former Bengals wide receiver revealed that his mother struggled with alcohol addiction and ultimately died from it.
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Alcoholism is a major problem in the United States. It’s estimated that 1 in 10 adults struggles to keep their drinking habits in check. That’s around 29 million people. Globally, it’s believed that 300 million people have alcohol use disorder, and that number is expected to rise to 400 million by 2030.
But one athlete who doesn’t struggle with alcoholism is former NFL wideout Chad Johnson—and that largely traces back to how alcoholism ended his mother’s life.
“I think it might have been my mom (who influenced my decision to abstain from alcohol),” Johnson expressed. Von, curious, then asked if she drank when he was younger.”
“Oh, did she? Oh man, she drank like a fish. You know, morning, noon, and night. And seeing her become somebody I didn’t even recognize, I think that’s why I steered away from it. Because it always starts young,” Ocho added.
It sounds sad, but it’s the reality for many kids growing up in America. Some parents drink heavily, setting a bad example for their children. This is exactly what happened to Johnson. Specifically, he didn’t like how alcohol changed his mother’s personality.
That’s why Johnson doesn’t take credit for his discipline in avoiding alcohol around others. It was his mother who showed him, unintentionally, that it could be a slippery slope.
Sadly, Johnson later shared that his mother didn’t survive the damage alcohol did to her body.
“She passed away from alcohol poisoning. 2021, I’ll never forget,” Johnson recalled. “I got that phone call, and I knew something was wrong because it was family members calling. Family members never call, especially like that… The autopsy came back, and she passed away. Drank herself to death. That’s my baby, though.”
It’s a heartbreaking story to hear and probably just as tough for Johnson to tell. Losing a mother too soon is one of the hardest things to go through in life. However, it reaffirmed for Johnson that avoiding alcohol was the right choice.
That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have any guilty pleasures, though. Earlier in the pod, Johnson mentioned that he loves cigars.
“Never done anything but cigars. I’ve been smoking since 1991. I smoke 2 or 3 a day, and this is even when I was playing. When I was playing, I’d smoke, whether we lost or whether we won.”
Johnson even has his own Cigar company called Eighty5 by Ochocinco. It’s a passion of his that he holds near and dear to his heart.
At the end of the day, we all have our vices. For people like Johnson and his mother, it’s things that can affect long-term health, like alcohol, drugs, and smoking. For others, it might be anything from eating junk food to gambling. The important thing is to prevent it from becoming an addiction. A little bit of anything isn’t bad, but too much of anything usually is.
