Fear for fragile Ben Cousins Tony Sheahan and Linda Cann
From: Sunday Herald Sun
May 29, 2011 BEN Cousins' father has revealed his son has had "some major hiccups" after close friends expressed fear that the former AFL star is on a downward spiral.
The confessed drug addict is said to be in a fragile state of mind and his mates say they are extremely concerned for him.
A friend said that since Cousins' departure from AFL football his life had lost direction. He failed to commit to a mining job in Western Australia and has struggled for focus.
Last night his father, Bryan Cousins, said his son's attempt to rebuild his life had taken a "couple of bad turns" in the past three months and he was battling "troubled times".
"What happened with Ben in the past three months? Has he had a couple of bad turns and things like that? Yeah, he probably has," Mr Cousins said.
"Any person going through this has hiccups along the way - some minor, some major."
He added his son continued to wrestle with his demons and it was a "work in progress".
Cousins looked healthy and relaxed when he visited Melbourne for the Formula One Grand Prix in late March.
But shortly after returning to Perth, he reached crisis point. A distressed Cousins told friends he hadn't slept for four days and was talking of feelings of helplessness.
His friends rallied to help.
Rani Mainwaring, widow of West Coast Eagles champion Chris, was one of those on "Cousins Watch" that weekend, checking in with him constantly.
A friend, who wished to remain anonymous, had a long phone conversation pleading with the Brownlow medallist to take care of himself.
The former Richmond and West Coast premiership player has struggled with substance abuse for years even at the peak of his playing career at the Eagles.
Last year his warts-and-all documentary covering his recovery from his addictions was a ratings winner for Channel 7.
At the time there were high hopes held by his friends and supporters that he had overcome his demons.
Ms Mainwaring, whose husband died after taking a cocktail of drugs in October 2007, declined to discuss the situation. "No, I don't want to talk about any of that, thank you," she said.
Cousins was one of the last people to see Mainwaring alive and was hit hard by his untimely death.
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