Jeff Hardy On Going to Rehab, Says He Asked WWE For Help Just Before 2019 DWI

On the latest After the Bell, Jeff Hardy addressed his DWI from last year and discussed going to rehab. As most wrestling fans know, Hardy has his share of drug issues over the year and they welled back up when he was arrested in October of last year while he was off TV recuperating from injury and charged with driving while intoxicated. It was Hardy’s second DWI in two years followed a March 2018 arrest.

Hardy talked about how going to inpatient rehab for the first time has helped him and said that he reached out to WWE for help just before his 2019 DWI. You can check out highlights and the full audio below:

On going to rehab and how it helped him: “It’s crazy, man. And you know, I’ve been very lucky throughout my career. In my 20s and 30s, you know, I never had any surgeries, no serious injuries. But then, man, in 2018 I had rotator cuff surgery, my first injury from pro wrestling. And evidently, it’s something to do with me not working on a daily basis and being worried about, ‘Am I gonna heal, am I gonna be as good as I was before this injury and this surgery?’ But yeah, and I’ll just go ahead and get this out of the way. After that first DUI I got, man. I think I was doing Lilian Garcia’s podcast, and I said — I said, ‘I got my first and last DUI.’ And I was so sure of that in that moment. And I think I even went onto say, ‘I’ll never get arrested again.’ I remembered when I said that, I said, ‘I might not have, probably shouldn’t have said that.’

“And now, being that I’ve been to rehab, inpatient rehab for the first time in my life, I’ve learned a lot about the disease known as alcoholism and addiction. Because I went through the drugs back when I got arrested and even watching SmackDown last week, when they aired the mugshots and stuff. That’s some heavy stuff, but it’s gonna be good s**t because man, this is — really, this is my last chance to get it right. And I want to just get a few more good years out of this body and do the best I possibly can. But yeah, it was weird man. So now I still have the legal situation, the black cloud that’s hanging over me, I haven’t been convicted.”

On asking WWE for help just before his second DUI: “When I got pulled over October 3rd of 2019, the day before I called WWE and said, ‘I need help. I need treatment. There’s something wrong with me, like with this alcohol thing.’ But yeah, and I’ve learned so much in recovery, just little things like one day at a time man, just focus on today. And you know, not drinking or not drugging. And it’s just calling my sponsor everyday and talking to another alcoholic, man. There’s something powerful about it when you admit that, what you are and you can like own that and just, man. And there’s a huge piece in my heart and my mind knowing that if I never drink again I’m never going to get into any other trouble. You know, it’s like, Jeff Hardy plus no drinking equals no trouble, cause all my troubles came from either drugs or alcohol. And I’m just a guy like, with the alcohol I can’t drink like other people. And I’ve surrendered and I’ve just manned up to that, you know and there’s nothing wrong with it.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit WWE’s After the Bell with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.