The hits just keep on coming for former Heisman Trophy winner and first round NFL draft pick Johnny Manziel.
Just yesterday it was revealed that Manziel is being sued yet again. (I’ve lost track of how many suits he currently has against him.) This time the lawsuit is over allegedly not paying rent for a mansion he is listed as renting.
That, however, appears to be the least of his concerns based on a recent article published by Vanity Fair in which friends of his went into great detail with regards to Manziel’s partying and alleged drug use.
Here are some of the highlights…
As it often does, the problems reportedly began for Johnny back in college…
It was that June when his parents realized the severity of the problem—this according to Johnny’s longtime best friend, Steven Brant, who at the time lived with him in an off-campus house in College Station. It was there that Michelle found drug paraphernalia. “She came into the house and found some pipes, and she totally freaked out,” remembers Brant. “They moved him out. It happened so fast. I was out playing basketball, and when I came back Johnny was gone, and so was all of his furniture.”
Manziel’s close friend Nate Fitch, aka “Uncle Nate,” was also concerned…
The Manziels questioned Fitch about the extent of the problem at the house Johnny and Brant shared on Pershing Avenue. Fitch, whose father was a drug therapist, told them what he knew. According to people familiar with the details, marijuana was in regular use at the house, as was the prescription tranquilizer Xanax, a popular party drug often ground up, snorted, and chased with alcohol; MDMA, known as “Molly,” a form of Ecstasy; and, occasionally, cocaine. Some in the family came to blame Johnny’s introduction to drugs on Brant, whose Twitter feed is sprinkled with references to Xanax. I asked Brant about his drug use. “I don’t deny it,” he said. “But it’s not like this was some kind of Amy Winehouse scene.”
Was it fair, I asked, to say he seldom declined Xanax or Molly if offered? Brant responded with a grin: “That’s a fair way to put it.”
Fitch, for his part reportedly tried to help Manziel out after he saw what he was doing during what would be his final season at Texas A&M…
“Nate told him, ‘Look what you’re doing—Tom Brady doesn’t do this stuff,’ ” says someone who heard him. “ ‘Brett Favre doesn’t do this. Joe Montana doesn’t do this. I don’t know any N.F.L. quarterbacks who do. Oh wait, Ryan Leaf did. You’re my best friend, and I love you. One day you’ll thank me.’ ”
Once it became clear Johnny had no intention of cutting back his partying, friends say, Fitch told the Manziels what his father had taught him. He said Johnny was “sick” and informally diagnosed him with “substance-abuse disorder [S.A.D.].” With the disorder, Fitch warned the family, a person will give up almost anything, even something they love—in this case football—rather than stop using drugs.
And here’s the real kicker of a quote from the article…
“Johnny doesn’t have a drug problem. He has a ‘having fun’ problem,” insists Brant. “I think I know him better than anyone. He’ll be fine. Believe me.” And then Brant smiles and mentions the popular documentary series on ESPN. “You know what?” he says. “The 30 for 30 is going to be great.”
Of that, we have no doubt.
Check out the rest of the very lengthy and detailed article over at Vanity Fair. It’s quite the read.