Joey Swoll speaks about his addiction.
Addiction can be a truly devastating thing to battle through. It’s a fight, a fight to be free of something that is controlling you against your will. But it takes will to overcome such a condition.
Few people speak on suffering from such conditions and how can you blame them. After all, so many people put a negative stigma on addiction. But the reality is that it’s far more common than many would admit.
Larry Wheels has admitted to his own addictions in the past and how he hoped to overcome it by recognizing he had a problem. Now it appears another bodybuilding figure is going through his own battle with addiction.
Joey Swoll has built a large following on social media. His physique has turned many heads and has garnered him a ton of attention. With so much popularity and upside, you’d think that Joey Swoll was living the life.
But Joey Swoll has a secret he has kept for some time now, one that he has decided to share with the world.
Joey Swoll recently admitted to being addicted to pain killers. He also revealed that he’s doing everything he can to kick the habit and has recently gone through withdrawal.
In a recent Instagram post, Joey Swoll had this to say about battling through addiction.
This post will probably cost me some friends, some sponsorships and companies who want to work with me, maybe some followers, but I need to be honest and real so fuck it.
This is what withdrawal looks like, insomnia while laying in a pool of sweat yet freezing and shaking horribly in pain wishing and praying it simply would just end. Minutes are like hours. Hours like days. I’ve never battled anything harder. 2020 has been the WORST year of my life in every way and for most of it I was heavily addicted to pain killers and opioids. I have never been more depressed in my life. I lost everything that mattered most to me.
Everyone always assumes “popular” people on social media have such amazing lives and never struggle. I always get messages from people saying how much they love my positivity and how happy I always am. Like Robin Williams once said, “I think the saddest people always try their hardest to make people happy. Because they know what it’s like to feel absolutely worthless and they don’t want anybody else to feel like that.” This is the truth. I’m always taking care of others, making them happy, yet always feeling unloved and worthless. This year I needed someone to talk to, for once to be there for me at my lowest, but I had NO ONE. I reached out to people I thought were loyal and like family only to be ignored and hear excuses why they’re too busy. I just wanted someone to talk to, someone to listen, someone to tell me it’s going to be ok. All I had instead was a big empty apartment with some pills to make the pain go away for awhile. Being addicted to pain killers felt like I was in prison and NEVER getting out. Twice I almost ended it because I just didn’t want to live anymore. The only thing that saved me was hearing my Mom cry to me on the phone knowing something was wrong. Funny how mothers always know.
I’m not posting this for sympathy or pity. I am responsible and accountable. I fucked up. I should have made better decisions. I should have been stronger. Being lonely and depressed is so hard to beat. I know many of you out there are fighting the same battle and in the same prison as I was and I want you to know YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Be strong.
Hopefully Joey Swoll can make a full recovery and overcome his addiction.
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Managing Editor at Generation Iron, Jonathan Salmon is a writer, martial arts instructor, and geek culture enthusiast. Check out his YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Sound Cloud for in-depth MMA analysis.
