Despite relapsing, Dennis Rodman said he’s still focused on his recovery and doesn’t think he’s undone the progress he’s made over the past year.
Dennis Rodman says he’s in contact with his sponsor and attending AA meetings again after letting his sobriety slip two weeks ago.
According to TMZ, the star was out in the Newport Beach bar scene and had stopped going to 12-step meetings because they got boring. However, Rodman said he realized drinking again was a mistake and he reached out to his sponsor and his agent, Darren Prince, who has been sober himself for 10 years, for help.
“Dennis is the king of rebounds and he’ll rebound from this too,” said Prince.
Rodman entered rehab in January after getting a DUI. At the time, Prince said that was the culmination of years of substance abuse for the former NBA star.
“It’s no secret Dennis has been struggling on and off with alcoholism the past 17 years,” Prince said. “He’s been dealing with some very personal issues the past month and we’re going to get him the help he needs now.”
More recently, Rodman told TMZ that the DUI got his attention.
“It was a wake-up call. . . . I’ve been doing pretty good man, considering the fact that before that it was up and down up and down being Dennis Rodman the party guy,” he said.
Despite his relapse, he said he’s still focused on his recovery and he doesn’t think he’s undone the progress he’s made over the past year.
“Now I got a clear view of what’s going on in life so that’s a good process,” he said. “It’s a long process and it’s gonna take time to get over the hump.”.
Early this year, when he was just 30 days sober, Rodman acknowledged that keeping clean was going to be tough.
“I feel great, man. It’s kinda weird not to have a cocktail on a beautiful day in California but like I said, it’s just one day at a time,” he said in February. “I’m hoping that I can continue on my journey to be sober. That’s a long road.”
Rodman has been in treatment before, including in 2014 after he returned from a much-publicized trip to North Korea. During that trip he appeared drunk and insinuated that an American in a North Korean prison deserved his treatment.
“What was potentially a historical and monumental event turned into a nightmare for everyone concerned. Dennis Rodman came back from North Korea in rough shape emotionally,” Prince said at the time. “The pressure that was put on him to be a combination ‘super human’ political figure and ‘fixer’ got the better of him. He is embarrassed, saddened and remorseful for the anger and hurt his words have caused.”
