Kurt Angle’s struggle with addiction was costing the Olympic gold medalist $7,000 a month at his worst, the Hall of Famer has revealed.
The Olympian’s addiction to painkillers would play a factor in his WWE departure in 2006 and he would join TNA Wrestling later that year.
During the “True Geordie” podcast, Angle opened up on his battles with substances and the cost of his addiction to painkillers. He said,
“I’ll give you an example of what I was doing. I had 12 different doctors that were giving me 12 different scripts of medication. I had to set up a calendar because you couldn’t go to the same pharmacy, so you had to have 12 different doctors, go to 12 different pharmacies. So I had all these different pharmacies on my calendar, and then it still wasn’t enough, so I had to buy 500 of them illegally from Mexico. So I was buying 2,000 painkillers a month just to keep my addiction going.
“[I was spending] $7,000 a month, but remember, I was making a lot of money [laughs], so the money wasn’t really an issue.”
After overcoming his addiction, Angle returned to WWE in 2017 to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. He has made appearances for WWE ever since.
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Kurt Angle, the Olympic gold medalist and WWE Hall of Famer, recently opened up about his struggle with addiction and the financial toll it took on him. Angle revealed that at his worst, his addiction to painkillers was costing him $7,000 a month.
During an interview on the “True Geordie” podcast, Angle shared the extent of his addiction. He explained that he had 12 different doctors who were prescribing him various medications. To avoid suspicion, he had to set up a calendar to keep track of which pharmacies to visit since he couldn’t go to the same one repeatedly. Despite having multiple prescriptions, it still wasn’t enough to satisfy his addiction, so he resorted to buying 500 painkillers illegally from Mexico each month. In total, Angle was consuming 2,000 painkillers monthly just to maintain his addiction.
Despite the hefty financial cost, Angle mentioned that money wasn’t a significant concern for him at the time due to his high earnings. However, his addiction did play a role in his departure from WWE in 2006. He later joined TNA Wrestling but eventually overcame his addiction and made a return to WWE in 2017 for his induction into the Hall of Fame. Angle has continued to make appearances for WWE since then.
Angle’s story sheds light on the devastating impact of addiction and the lengths some individuals may go to maintain it. It also serves as a reminder that addiction can affect anyone, regardless of their achievements or success.
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