‘I’d change a lot of my life’ – Ronnie O’Sullivan regrets six-year ‘wild bender’ after dad went to prison
RONNIE O’SULLIVAN says he regrets going on a “wild bender” for six years after his dad went to prison.
The snooker ace told an upcoming Eurosport and discovery+ documentary he went off the rails when his father was jailed in 1992 for killing a driver for gangster Charlie Kray.
He said: “I would change quite a lot of things in my life. A lot of the things I’ve done have made long-term damage.
“Some things are out of your control, like my dad going away. I’m not blaming my dad for that, I just lost a lot of that support mechanism.
“I went on a wild bender for six years. I think I would change those years because I became so dependent on changing the way I felt.
“I never felt comfortable in my own skin, but up until that point, I had always felt comfortable in my own skin. I think that is where a lot of my problems arose.
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“That then became a crutch because if I wasn’t feeling good, the first thing I would go to was the drink or something to change the way I felt.”
He continued: “I think once you have crossed that line, it is hard to go back to the person that you were.
“I would much rather go back to the kid that was 16, 17, or 18 that was innocent, and never have to do any of that, but I have only got myself to blame.
“I would definitely change that, a million per cent, but things change.”
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Meanwhile, Mark Allen has opened up about the crazy spending that forced his bankruptcy.
The 2018 Masters champion told the BBC: “I overspent in every aspect of my life.
“If there was a car at £50,000, I bought one at £80,000.”