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It’s always surprising to learn about superstars who’ve flaunted in public the image of a hero, but turn out being monsters behind closed doors.
According to a new book “Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton,” the Chicago Bears legendary running back abused painkillers in his retirement, eventually becoming suicidal.
According to the book, written by Jeff Pearlman, Payton mixed Tylenol and Vicodin and kept tanks of nitrous oxide in his garage. At one point he got a hold of Ritalin from a friend whose son was prescribed the drug.
An excerpt of “Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton,” by Jeff Pearlman, will appear in the Oct. 3 issue of Sports Illustrated, and describes the Hall of Famer as suicidal, abusing pain medication and dealing with a crumbling family situation.
Payton, who retired after the 1987 season as the then-all-time leading rusher in NFL history, was depressed and suicidal in the mid-1990s. Pearlman cites a letter from Payton to a friend, in which Payton said he imagined himself killing those around him and then turning a gun on himself.
The book further delves into the details of his extramarital affairs. During his induction into the Hall of Fame, both his wife and mistress attended, obligating Payton’s personal assistant, Ginny Quirk, to baby sit the grown women and keep them from basically killing each other.
The football player’s life came to an abrupt halt when he became deathly ill from a rare liver disease and bile duct cancer. He died in 1999.
“Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton” will be released Oct. 4.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney warned heads will “explode” in Washington with tomorrow’s release of his new memoir “In My Time” – and so it began on Sunday, with former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who dismissed as “cheap shots” the criticism leveled at him, Condoleezza Rice and others in the book It was the latest volley in a clash that stretches back to their first years in the George W. Bush administration, reports the AP. Cheney told NBC News last week, “There are going to be heads exploding all over Washington” after people read the book. “My head isn’t exploding. I haven’t noticed any other heads exploding in Washington,” Powell said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “From what I’ve read in the newspapers and seen on television it’s essentially a rehash of events of seven or eight years ago.” Cheney and Powell had numerous disagreements in the administration, particularly over policy toward Iraq and the run-up to the 2003 invasion by U.S.-led forces. In his book, Cheney says he believes Powell tried to undermine Bush by expressing his worry about the Iraq War in private conversations. “It was as though he thought the proper way to express his views was by criticizing administration policy to people outside the government,” Cheney writes. Cheney says he pushed for Powell to be removed from the administration after the 2004 election, writing Powell’s resignation “was for the best.” On Sunday, Powell termed “nonsense” Cheney’s description of how Powell went outside with his criticism of administration policies. Powell also suggested that Cheney wrongly took credit for Powell’s resignation from the State Department in 2004; Powell said he had always planned to serve only four years. “Mr. Cheney has had a long and distinguished career and I hope in his book that’s what he will focus on, not these cheap shots that he’s taking at me and other members of the administration who served to the best of our ability for President Bush,” Powell said.
Also in the book, Cheney goes after former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for her “naivete” in her efforts to negotiate a nuclear weapons agreement with North Korea. The book also details Cheney’s view that “he saw no need to apologize” for the controversial words included in Bush’s 2003 State of the Union about Iraq’s supposed search for uranium in Niger that helped justify the war in Iraq. Cheney’s writes that Rice eventually agreed with him, and she “tearfully admitted I had been right.” On “Face the Nation,” Powell labeled as “almost condescending” the tone of Cheney’s criticism of Rice, who succeeded him as secretary of state. Regarding the current president, Powell, who famously crossed party lines to vote for President Obama in 2008, said Sunday that he’s not necessarily supporting him for reelection in 2012. “I haven’t decided who I’m going to vote for,” Powell said. “Just as was the case in 2008, I am going to watch the campaign unfold. In the course of my life I have voted for Democrats, I have voted for Republicans, I have changed from one four-year cycle to another. “I’ve always felt it my responsibility as a citizen to take a look at the issues, examine the candidates, and pick the person that I think is best qualified for the office of the president in that year. And not just solely on the basis of party affiliation,” he said. Asked about the Republican field, Powell said there are some “interesting candidates,” but no one who has “emerged into the leading position.” “So let’s see if anybody else is going to join, and we’ve got a long way to go,” he added.
In her new book Starting Over, LaToya Jackson makes some shocking allegations about her ex-husband Jack Gordon.Jackson turned against her family when she married Gordon. She claims he pimped her out, forced her to pose nude for Playboy twice, forced her into group sex, beat her and threatened to kill her. Jackson claims she was scared for her life. She also made shocking allegations about her late brother Michael Jackson that she says she now regrets. LaToya’s ex-husband Jack Gordon died in 2005.
In other Jackson news, lil’ brother Randy took to twitter to talk about an incident that happened in the 80’s regarding Pop Icon Tina Turner. Randy claims Tina Turner shot him after he caught her with his then girlfriend. There has been no comment from Turner, but apparently Randy can’t hold on to his women. Years ago, Randy’s babymomma Alejandra left him and had more children with his older brother Jermaine.
Journalist Don Lemon has revealed he is gay. The 45-year old CNN anchor has a new book out called Transparent. Lemon, who used to work locally at NBC-10, already revealed he was molested as a child by a neighbor. He talked about that during his coverage of the Bishop Eddie Long scandal. Lemon says he was never on the downlow since his friends and colleagues already knew. He also says he isn’t gay as a result of sexual abuse but that he was born that way. Lemon’s book, Transparent, is in stores now.
SIDEBAR: omg! You are so fine, it’s almost unbelieveable.
Janet Jackson’s new book, True You, a journey to finding and loving yourself arrives in bookstores on the 15th. The book is part self help-part autobiography, and it’s very revealing. In the book, Jackson talks about her body issues. She says she didn’t feel attractive and that she would bang her head against the wall. She recalls how her brothers would tease her calling her names like horse, pig and cow. She also opened up about her relationship with her father. She says growing up the Jackson children could not call their father Joe Jackson “dad.” They had to address him as “Joe.” She says he had a different way of showing love.
Reagan’s youngest son Ron has a new book out about the Gipper.
2011 is a big year for Ronald Reagan fans, being the centennial of his February 6 birth in Tampico, Ill. But youngest son Ron Reagan is spoiling the good cheer with a new book that suggests the Gipper suffered from Alzheimer’s disease while in the White House, a claim dismissed by Reagan’s doctors and outside experts. “Had the diagnosis been made in, say, 1987, would he have stepped down?” Ron asks, regarding the disease confirmed in 1994. “I believe he would have,” he writes in My Father At 100: A Memoir, due in bookstores Tuesday. [Poll: Who do you think was the worst president?]
In addition to challenging the former president’s doctors, Ron also reports for the first time that Reagan, right after falling off a horse six months out of the White House, underwent brain surgery, denied by Reagan associates.
Let’s start with the Alzheimer’s diagnosis. It was announced in 1994. While it prompted some to suggest they knew Reagan had the disease as president, his four White House doctors said they saw no evidence of it. But Ron, who became a liberal and atheist, disappointing his dad, suggests he saw hints of confusion and “an out-of-touch president” during the 1984 campaign and again in 1986, when his father couldn’t recall the names of California canyons he was flying over. Arguing his case in the book, Ron adds that doctors today know that the disease can be in evidence before being recognized. “The question, then, of whether my father suffered from the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s while in office more or less answers itself,” he writes. [See a gallery of caricatures of Reagan and other pols.]
Besides playing amateur doctor, Ron Reagan reveals, if true, brain surgery on his dad never before reported. He accurately reports that Reagan, after leaving the presidency, was bucked from a horse on July 4, 1989, while in Mexico. Ron tells of how his dad, after initially refusing medical help, was transported to a San Diego hospital. “Surgeons opening his skull to relieve pressure on the brain emerged from the operating room with the news that they had detected what they took to be probable signs of Alzheimer’s disease.” Several Reagan associates, however, say there was no surgery in San Diego.
What’s more there is no reporting about any San Diego operation on Reagan. News reports at the time of his fall say Reagan was flown to a hospital in Arizona, where he was treated for scrapes and bruises and released after five hours.
There were no reports of Reagan with a shaved head or skull stitches later that month when he served as a guest TV announcer at the July 11 baseball All-Star Game in Anaheim, Calif., or when he was inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City on July 21.
In September, he went to the Mayo Clinic, where a small burr hole was drilled to relieve a fluid buildup due to the fall.
Ron Reagan doesn’t mention this, but says that Reagan visited the Mayo Clinic in 1990 for tests that “confirmed the initial suspicion of Alzheimer’s.” Reagan’s post-presidency history, documented in several archives like University of Texas, reveal no such visit. And Dr. John E. Hutton Jr. his doctor from 1984 through Reagan’s retirement, told the New York Times that Reagan didn’t show the tell-tale symptoms until 1993.
Ron Reagan won’t talk about his book until its release, says his publisher Viking. The publisher also didn’t provide documents backing up the San Diego operation claim.
Here are key excerpts from Ron Reagan about his dad’s situation from My Father At 100, A Memoir.
Early hints that Ronald Reagan’s mind was fuzzy:
“Three years into his first term as president, though, I was feeling the first shivers of concern that something beyond mellowing was affecting my father. We had always argued over this issue or that, rarely with anything approaching belligerence, but vigorously all the same. He generally had the advantage of practiced talking points backed up by staff research, but I was an unabashed, occasionally effective advocate for my own positions. ‘He told me you make him feel stupid,’ my mother once shared, to my alarm. I didn’t want my father to feel stupid. If he was going to shoulder massive responsibility, I wanted him to feel on top of his game. If he was going to fulfill his duties as president, he would have to be.” Pages 204-205
“Watching the first of his two debates with 1984 Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale, I began to experience the nausea of a bad dream coming true. At 73, Ronald Reagan would be the oldest president ever reelected. Some voters were beginning to imagine grandpa—who can never find his reading glasses—in charge of a bristling nuclear arsenal, and it was making them nervous. Worse, my father now seemed to be giving them legitimate reason for concern. My heart sank as he floundered his way through his responses, fumbling with his notes, uncharacteristically lost for words. He looked tired and bewildered.” Page 205.
“My father might himself have suspected that all was not as it should be. As far back as August 1986 he had been alarmed to discover, while flying over the familiar canyons north of Los Angeles, that he could no longer summon their names.” Page 218.
The July 4, 1989 horse bucking and discovery of Alzheimer’s:
“In July 1989, barely six months out of office, my father visited friends in Mexico. While out riding he was thrown when his horse shied at something in the trailside scrub. That my father, even at age 78, would be bucked off his mount was, in itself, an ominous sign. It’s a wonder he didn’t break any bones, but he did hit his head hard enough to cause a sizable contusion. After initially refusing medical attention, he ultimately relented and was transported to a hospital in San Diego. Surgeons opening his skull to relieve pressure on the brain emerged from the operating room with the news that they had detected what they took to be probable signs of Alzheimer’s disease. No formal diagnosis was given, as far as I know. I have since learned from a doctor who happened to be interning at the hospital when my father was brought in that surgeons involved in his care, in what my informant characterized as ‘shameful’ behavior, violated my father’s right to medical privacy by subsequently gossiping about his condition.” Page 217.
Doctors recommended to my mother that further tests of cognition be conducted the following year to measure any decline. Those tests, at the Mayo Clinic, confirmed the initial suspicion of Alzheimer’s.” Page 217.
“I’ve seen no evidence that my father (or anyone else) was aware of his medical condition while he was in office. Had the diagnosis been made in, say 1987, would he have stepped down? I believe he would have. Far less was known about the disease then, of course, than is known now. Today we are aware that the physiological and neurological changes associated with Alzheimer’s can be in evidence years, even decades, before identifiable symptoms arise. The question, then, of whether my father suffered from the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s while in office more or less answers itself.” Pages 217-218
Former Olympic darling Marion Jones has released a book about her life and stay in prison. In the book, On The Right Track, Jones says she wishes she had never lied about her steroid use. Jones lost everything: her medals, her home and her reputation. Jones, 35, says at one point she was put in solitary confinement for fighting a female inmate. She says she feared for her life. Jones was in a federal prison for six months. She’ll be featured in an upcoming installment of ESPN’s documentary series 30 For 30. She is the mother of three kids, and she was recently a member of the WNBA’s Tulsa Shock.
Three people were arrested after protesters threw eggs and shoes at Tony Blair when he arrived to sign copies of his best selling memoir at a bookshop in Dublin.
Some 200 activists clashed with police on the city’s main thoroughfare O’Connell street.
Security at the former’s British prime minister’s first signing of his autobiography had been tight due to opposition by an Irish nationalist group opposed to British control of Northern Ireland and by critics of Blair’s decision to join the war in Iraq.
No injuries were reported and the missiles did not hit Blair.
As reported earlier, the confrontation centered on Brewer’s newly released book – “Scorpions for Breakfast: My Fight Against Special Interests, Liberal Media, and Cynical Politicos to Secure the Border” – which details her conservative approach to dealing with the state’s illegal immigration challenges.
A review published in the Arizona Republic said that Brewer casts Obama as “condescending” and skewers him repeatedly. The newspaper said, “in the book she calls the president ‘patronizing’ and said ‘he lectured me.’”
RELATED: Video: Arizona’s Gov Brewer, President Obama and the Finger
“He didn’t feel that I had treated him cordially” in the book, Brewer told reporters Wednesday. “I said to him that I have all the respect in the world for the office of the president. The book is what the book is. I asked him if he read the book. He said he read the excerpt.”
“He brought up my book and he was a little tense,” Brewer said in an interview with KFYI radio.
“He said he read the excerpt and didn’t think I was very cordial. I said we’d have to agree to disagree. He was a little thin-skinned and tense, to say the least.”
So what about the finger in the prez’s face? Well, she says she’s always been expressive with her hands and didn’t mean any disrespect.
SIDEBAR: I’m calling for a NATIONAL PROTEST of Jan Brewer by, phone calls, direct mail, email, facebook, twitter, here & now. He is the President of the United States, whether you believe in him or not. Showing disrespect by behavior, actions and lies. This is not the first time she has pulled this. And she is not the only ELECTED OFFICIAL, that has done that. I guess her book is not selling well, so you up the cost with free publicty by embarassing yourself. At least President Obama had enough respect to walk away from your monkey azz, and let you stand there and look like a damn fool. Bytch please!