{"id":252403,"date":"2025-11-09T03:53:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T03:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/252403\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T03:53:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T03:53:10","slug":"wiggins-heads-to-top-us-trauma-clinic-while-his-friend-pays-the-full-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/252403\/","title":{"rendered":"Wiggins heads to top US trauma clinic \u2014 while his friend pays the full bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sir <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idlprocycling.com\/bradley-wiggins\" title=\"Bradley Wiggins\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bradley Wiggins<\/a> has spoken candidly about his mental health struggles since retiring. Stories of (sexual) abuse, alcohol and drugs marked the most difficult years of his life, but thanks in part to a friendship with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idlprocycling.com\/lance-armstrong\" title=\"Lance Armstrong\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lance Armstrong<\/a>, the 2012 Tour winner began to climb out of that hole. The Texan is still extending a helping hand to the former Olympic champ.Wiggins has fallen on hard times in recent years. He lost his spot as a TV analyst and ran into serious financial trouble: he even found himself briefly without a home and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idlprocycling.com\/cycling\/wiggins-sees-huge-financial-setback-doubled-to-nearly-25-million-euros\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">facing debts<\/a> of around \u20ac2.5 million. That set him on the wrong path, with alcohol and drugs centre stage. &#8220;I became a functioning addict,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/othersports\/article-15181951\/Olympic-Bradley-Wiggin-cocaine-SNORTED-drug.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">he said not long ago<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>his drug problems have been around for years. He even recalls snorting cocaine off his Olympic gold medal, and suffering from anger outbursts. &#8220;I raged as I smashed up my 2012 trophy for Sports Personality of the Year and my knighthood. I did that in front of my kids. No wonder there were times when they talked about trying to put me in rehab.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Wiggins had grown sick of cycling \u2014 and of life. But Armstrong offered support, and that helped steer him the right way. &#8220;He\u2019s been one of my biggest supporters over the past twelve months. He inspired me to stop drinking and get my life back on track. He\u2019s been a gift from heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Continue reading below the photo!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"280\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/bradley-wiggins-2.jpg@webp.webp\" class=\"w-auto h-auto\" alt=\"bradley wiggins 2\"\/>Armstrong once again support for WigginsWiggins admits he\u2019s still working to stay on the straight and narrow \u2014 and the American star continues to help. He tells the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/othersports\/article-15266973\/Bradley-Wiggins-trauma-clinic-sports-Olympic.html?ns_mchannel=rss&amp;ns_campaign=1490&amp;ito=social-twitter_mailonline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Daily Mail<\/a> that he will go to one of the best rehabilitation clinics in the United States, with Armstrong footing the entire bill. &#8220;I&#8217;m off to America on Friday,&#8221; he says.<\/p>\n<p>At the clinic, the focus will be on processing the traumas that have shaped Wiggins\u2019s life. As a young rider, he was abused by a coach. That experience left a lasting mark on the British legend, who will now continue to work on this in the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sir Bradley Wiggins has spoken candidly about his mental health struggles since retiring. Stories of (sexual) abuse, alcohol&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-252403","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}