Johnny Manziel wants to transform into Johnny Football once again. The former Texas A&M star quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner famously flamed out in the NFL amid a flurry of off-the-field issues — but Manziel says he’s sober now and wants a second chance.
“I had a sense of entitlement about what I had accomplished at the age,” Manziel reflected to “Good Morning America” in a Monday interview.
“I was self-medicating with alcohol. That’s what I thought would make me happy and get out of that depression,” he continued. “When I would wake up the next day after a night like that, going on a trip like that, and you wake up the next day and that is all gone, that liquid courage, or that liquid… sense of euphoria that is over you, is all gone.”
Manziel was diagnosed with bipolar disorder “about a year ago,” he told T.J. Holmes.
“I am taking medication for bipolar, and I am working to try to make sure I don’t fall back into any type of depression because I know where that leads me and I know how slippery a slope that is for me,” the 25-year-old said.
“At the end of the day, I can’t help that my wires are a little bit differently crossed than yours,” Manziel continued. “I can’t help my mental makeup or the way that I was created.”
The turning point in his self-actualization, per Manziel, was when his mother “broke down” while confronting him, saying, “You don’t understand when people come up to us and say: ‘What the hell is your son doing?’”
“I saw the trickle-down effects of what I was doing in my life, that were meaningless and pointless and selfish,” he said.
Manziel was a first-round pick of the Cleveland Browns in 2014. He was cut and out of the league by 2016.
Manziel, who did not want to speak about the since-dropped domestic violence charge filed against him, has a contract waiting for him in the Canadian Football League (CFL). It’s a start.
“The goal of this comeback is to get back to the NFL, ultimately,” Manziel said.
Watch the video above.