See more of our coverage in your search results.
Mike Tyson’s drug abuse nearly killed him.
During a new four-part Netflix documentary “Tyson” that was released on Tuesday, the former heavyweight boxing champion recalled his drug use, which included cocaine, getting so bad that he overdosed multiple times, with one particular harrowing instance.
“When I think about a low point, I think about this — OD’ing. I’m bleeding out, my nose is bleeding and I’m hysterical. I’m sweating,” Tyson says in the doc, according to The Sun.
“I OD’d, I’ve done it plenty of times but this one was a little more extreme than others.”
The 60-year-old Tyson’s rap sheet — in addition to his 1992 rape conviction which saw him jailed for three years — includes a December 2006 arrest for drug possession and DUI, during which police said Tyson admitted to being a cocaine addict.
He pled guilty in September 2007, admitting he was under the influence of cocaine and alcohol and could’ve faced up to four years in prison, but in a November 2007 sentencing he received three years probation for the drug possession and served one day in jail for the DUI.
Tyson, who returned to the ring for a shock fight against Jake Paul two years ago at age 58, was turned onto smoking toad venom to help with his addiction. He previously opened up to The Post in 2021 about using toad venom, saying he “died” during his first trip and that “death is beautiful.”
“I did it as a dare,” Tyson said then. “I was doing heavy drugs like cocaine, so why not? It’s another dimension. Before I did the toad, I was a wreck. The toughest opponent I ever faced was myself. I had low self-esteem. People with big egos often have low self-esteem. We use our ego to subsidize that. The toad strips the ego.”
Tyson is filmed in the documentary smoking toad venom and feared he was going to die before his wife, Lakiha “Kiki” Spicer, comforted him.
“We were all trying to think how we can get Mike to get better,” the 49-year-old Spicer, Tyson’s third wife, says in the documentary regarding Tyson’s introduction to the venom, per The Sun.
“At the time we had this friend, he knew a shaman who does this thing called 5 Meo-DMT, it comes from the Bufo alvarius toad.
“Whatever kind of addictions or things that you’re going through, it helps level them in your mind.”
Tyson says he’s used toad venom “over 100 times” and hasn’t used cocaine or drank alcohol since.
“Any time I have to make a big decision about anything, I take the toad,” he says.