‘Three years after retiring, I was a drug addict’ – Bradley Wiggins reveals his addiction battle & bankruptcy nightmare

SIR BRADLEY WIGGINS has revealed he became a “drug addict” just three weeks after his cycling career ended.

The five-time Olympic gold medallist retired from the sport in 2016.

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Sir Bradley Wiggins has revealed he turned to drugs just weeks after retiring[/caption]

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Wiggins won five Olympic gold medals[/caption]

PA:Press Association

But since retiring the legend has battled depression and financial troubles[/caption]

Since hopping off his bike for good, Wiggins has battled depression, bankruptcy and his family feared he would take his own life.

Last year, the London 2012 icon was described as “sofa-surfing” and “basically homeless” as his debt doubled to £2million.

Wiggins is now in a “good place” and is trying to rebuild his life.

And the 44-year-old has opened up on his troubled childhood and struggles in recent years.

Wiggins was abandoned by his father as a child, saw his school headmaster murdered and was sexually abused as a boy by his first cycling coach.

He told The Telegraph: “The contradiction is that the coach who abused me was my first male role model in cycling.

“I had grown up with an absent father, and so this man instilled a confidence in me as a bike rider.

“Wherever he went, he would tell everyone: ‘This kid’s going to be special.’ It kind of offset what was going on behind-the-scenes.

“There were other kids at the club it was happening to as well. We were normalised to the behaviour, made to feel there was nothing wrong with it. You’re only 13, but it leads to a really dark period.

“Within three years of retiring in 2016, I was a drug addict.

“And a lot of it was to do with this recall of my childhood.”

His difficulties led to him “playing a character” at the height of his fame as he struggled to truly be himself when rubbing shoulders with celebs.

The Olympic legend hid behind an eccentric personality and after retiring “this veil of being Bradley Wiggins went”.

He did not pay attention to his financial affairs and Wiggins says he was “getting ripped off left, right and centre by the people looking after me”.

But thankfully his money problems have now been “resolved” and he has the support of friends and family.

Wiggins has called upon help from disgraced cheat Lance Armstrong, who paid for him to take a therapy course last year.

And Team GB hero Sir Chris Hoy has also assisted him and Wiggins has been “inspired” by the way the Scot has dealt with his cancer diagnosis.

Times Newspapers Ltd

Wiggins has called Chris Hoy an ‘inspiration’[/caption]

Wiggins is now in a ‘better place’News Group Newspapers Ltd