Appearing on the current season of Channel 10’s I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, former AFL star Brendan Fevola has confessed that getting sacked was the best thing that happened to him.
Fevola made the comments as he sat around a campfire with other contestants on the show.
“I went into rehab — like a mental institution — for 60 days. And now I’m all right,” he revealed.
Asked what led to his stay, Fevola said: “Everything — drinking, gambling, depression.”
Brendan Fevola played for Brisbane when his career at Carlton ended
During a rehab stint in 2011 after he was arrested for drunk and disorderly behaviour, Fevola was sacked by the Brisbane Lions who had picked up the troubled star when he was dumped by Carlton.
“[Being sacked] was probably the best thing that ever happened to me though, because then I got out of ‘the bubble’, and I was fine. It was really weird.
“I’d keep everything in, and then I’d have a drink and I’d act out, because everything was built up,” he said.
“I found it hard to express my feelings — everyone thinks you’re a big, tough footy player, you’re perceived as that. If you’ve got issues, well, you look like a big sook.
“Back then, I was all over the paper — front page, back page — ‘In rehab’. Had people out the front of the institution trying to take photos. It was sick.”
Fevola and his fellow contestants on 10’s I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here
Fevola said rehab was a tough place and he felt sorry for some of the people he met.
“It’s made me stronger. It was the best thing that happened to me,” he said.
