Ted Williams: Crack Was My "Drug of Choice"
Ted Williams says he's off the wagon and headed to rehab.
The "man with the golden voice" admitted on "The Dr. Phil Show" that he's been drinking again.
Only a few days ago, it seemed Williams had turned his life around after years of homelessness and substance abuse.
When a video made by a reporter who found him panhandling on the side of a Columbus, Ohio interstate highway ramp went viral, and Williams was interviewed on "The Early Show," he became an overnight sensation and had job offers rolling in.
(Scroll down to watch Williams on "The Early Show" last week)
But on "Entertainment Tonight," Williams conceded, "The cat is out of the bag. Yes. I've relapsed into a drink."
It was Dr. Phil McGraw who urged Williams to seek help.
"Have you had even a stumble in two-and-a-half years?" McGraw asked.
"With alcohol, I did," Williams responded. "And I can say honestly, Dr. Phil, it didn't lead me to my drug of choice, which was crack."
"How recently was that?"
"A year ago."
In a two-week whirlwind, Williams had gone from anonymity to celebrity. But his genuine feel-good story still caused doubt and worry for both Ted and his 90-year-old mom, Julia Williams.
On "The Early Show," co-anchor Erica Hill observed to Williams, "Your stepdaughter has come out and said, 'You know, we're -- we're actually worried this (fame and money) could be a bad thing for Ted, that this fame, you know, could send him down the wrong path again. And that's how it started. You're (Julia) shaking your head that you're a little concerned, as well."
"Very concerned," Julia replied. "Very concerned."
"Well," Ted said, "I guess that that's rightfully said, because two years (his claim of having been clean at the time) is not a -- a great length of sobriety enough to say that I've got this mastered. It's one day at a time."
The first sign of trouble appeared as Ted Williams and his family reunited on "The Dr. Phil Show."
"Growing up, I felt abandoned," daughter Janey said.
At a Hollywood hotel, Ted and Janey were involved in an altercation. Police responded and brought the two in for questioning. A short time later, they were released without charges.
A badly shaken Janey spoke to Dr. Phil's producers. "Every single night, he gets drunk," she asserted.
Addiction specialist Ken Seeley told CBS News, "This is a really huge trigger, being reintroduced back to his family, coming from homeless (to) being famous overnight."
Seeley says Ted has to put recovery ahead of everything else. "He's at a crossroads right now," Seeley noted. "He could really make this work, or he could end up right back where he was very quickly."
To see Ted and Julia Willliams interviewed on "The Early Show" by co-anchors Chris Wragge and Erica Hill Friday, click below:
To watch the Williams' emotional mother-and-son reunion, click on the video player below:
Doral Chenoweth, the Columbus Dispatch reporter who discovered Ted Williams on the side of the road in Ohio, also spoke with Wragge and Hill Friday:
More "Early Show" videos, of interviews of Julia on Thursday last week:
Video: Ted Williams' Mom on His Sudden Fame
Video: Ted Williams' New "Golden" Life