- Ex-Manly star began to suffer from addiction
- Described moment when he realized that he had to change something
Former footy star Matthew Ridge has told how starring in reality TV show Treasure helped save him from a methamphetamine addiction that started because the drug ‘went to the sexual side of my brain’.
The 56-year-old enjoyed a distinguished career in rugby union and rugby league, winning the premiership with Manly in 1996 before going on to captain the Auckland Warriors and the New Zealand national team.
He would retire in 1999 as New Zealand’s all-time top scorer, with 168 points in 25 Test matches.
A career in broadcasting would follow for Ridge, who became a regular face on TVNZ, most notably co-hosting the show Game of Two Halves with co-host Marc Ellis.
Speaking about the Between two beers Podcastgave Ridge an open and honest revelation about why he first started using meth.
He said: ‘It’s amazing what a broken heart can do.
‘It repels you. When you’re heartbroken, you throw yourself into everything that makes you forget where you came from.”
He revealed that he first used the drug during a trip to Japan.
‘I became addicted. “I didn’t get addicted to the high, I got addicted to the fact that it went to the sexual side of my brain,” he said.
‘I did television, I went to work, I was a functioning drug addict.
Matthew Ridge (pictured recently) has told how he became addicted to methamphetamine while suffering from a ‘broken heart’
Ridge (second from right) said competing on a reality TV show and riding his BMX helped him kick the deadly drug
“I’d get up in the morning, go to work, have meetings and all that stuff, but then I’d just jump on my bike and start riding. And that’s what saved me: the riding, because I got so fit.”
Ridge also said he was able to stop taking the drug fairly quickly, but opened up at the awkward moment when he realized he needed to make a change.
‘So I just stopped, because I can stop that way. “I don’t have an addictive personality,” he said.
He was approached by a New Zealand television producer who starred in the reality show Treasure Island.
He would shoot for the program for seven weeks, during which time he would not use drugs.
‘They showed me a still [picture] of myself just on the island and I had no light in my eyes. I looked like I was dead. Like you see how your eyes sparkle, my eyes glisten, you’re alive,” he said.
“There I was just looking at it and I was like, oh my god.
‘I had to distance myself from everything, because I saw that I was following a dark path.’
Ridge now hopes he can inspire others going through a similar situation.
During his professional career, Ridge played 122 games for Manly as a fullback and scored an impressive 1093 points for the Sea Eagles with 32 tries and 477 conversions.
He left the Eagles in 1996 and returned to New Zealand to play for the Auckland Warriors, but admitted the transition was difficult.
“I had super high standards and [had] come from the best team… I came back to a team that had no culture,” he said.
He then revealed that he felt like he was “pushed into a role where I started coaching” in an effort to help the Warriors improve. But he added that many of his teammates wouldn’t listen to him.
Despite this, he admitted that he did not regret joining the team.
“It made me resilient… and I met some really cool people,” he explained.