Sports
Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger Details Issues with Alcohol, Pornography Addictions
Jennifer Stewart/Getty ImagesPittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said during an appearance at the ManUp Pittsburgh conference Saturday that he has had alcohol and pornography addictions in the past.”I’ve fallen as short as anybody,” he told former Steeler and program host Tunch Ilkin, per Joe Rutter of TribLive.com. “I’ve been addicted to alcohol. I’ve been addicted…
Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said during an appearance at the ManUp Pittsburgh conference Saturday that he has had alcohol and pornography addictions in the past.
“I've fallen as short as anybody,” he told former Steeler and program host Tunch Ilkin, per Joe Rutter of TribLive.com. “I've been addicted to alcohol. I've been addicted to pornography, which makes me then not the best husband, not the best father, not the best Christian I can be. You have to dedicate yourself and understand that you can get out of it because of the grace of God.”
The veteran quarterback said his faith has since become his top priority.
“I'm trying to be a better Christian than I am an athlete at football,” he said. “I push myself every day to do that. It starts here. It's not always easy. People don't realize all the time that us athletes, we're human. We sin like everyone else. We make mistakes. We get addicted to things. We sin.”
Roethlisberger, 38, was accused of sexual assault in both 2009 and 2010. Andrea McNulty filed a civil suit against Roethlisberger in 2009, saying he raped her in a Lake Tahoe hotel in 2008. Roethlisberger denied the accusation, and the matter was settled out of court in 2012. No criminal charges were filed.
In 2010, a college student said Roethlisberger raped her in the bathroom of a Milledgeville, Georgia, nightclub. Criminal charges were not pursued by the Baldwin County district attorney's office, though the NFL suspended Roethlisberger for six games (later reduced to four) in the 2010 season for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy.
And adult film actress Stormy Daniels wrote in her 2018 book Full Disclosure that Roethlisberger had escorted her up to her Lake Tahoe hotel room in 2006 and asked her for a “good night kiss.” When she refused, she said he pushed on her hotel door and said “come on.”
“I was terrified. I am rarely terrified,” she wrote.
She said after she went into her room and closed the door, Roethlisberger waited and knocked on her door for several minutes before leaving.
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