Oscar De La Hoya Contemplated Suicide

Contrary to his golden boy image, boxing champ Oscar De La Hoya took his drinking, infidelity and drug abuse to such heights that he contemplated suicide. Fortunately, De La Hoya, 38, said he has been sober for three months.

His turn-around came after he was on the verge of ending his own life. "Rock bottom was recently," he told Spanish-language broadcaster Univision, according to an English-language transcript it provided. "Within a couple of years, just thinking if my life was even worth it. I don't have the strength, I don't have the courage to take my own life but I was thinking about it."

For De La Hoya, his worst run was when he retired from his 16-year career 2009 after winning 10 world titles in six divisions. "There were drugs. My drug of choice was cocaine and alcohol. Cocaine was recent. The last two years, last two and a half years, I depended more on the alcohol than the cocaine," he said. "It took me to a place where I felt safe. It took me to a place where I felt as if nobody can say anything to me. It took me to a place where I just can reach out and grab my mom."

De La Hoya's mother died in 1990 two years before he won an Olympic Gold medal at the 1992 games in Barcelona. Born in Los Angeles, the Mexican-American champ came from a boxing family. His grandfather, father and brother were all boxers.