Oscar De La Hoya said in a lengthy telephone interview with Yahoo! Sports on Thursday that he had also entered drug and alcohol rehabilitation in 2009, but that ?it didn?t work? and he left after a week.
But De La Hoya said he voluntarily checked himself into a rehabilitation center in Malibu, Calif., in May because he needed to turn his life around.
De La Hoya reached out to Yahoo! Sports two days after giving an explosive interview to Teresa Rodriguez on Univision?s ?Aqui y Ahora? in which he admitted he is an alcoholic, harbored thoughts of suicide and had been unfaithful to his wife of 10 years, Millie Corretjer.
The former six-division world boxing champion, who is now president of Golden Boy Promotions, one of the sport?s dominant promoters, said he feels ?15, 14 years old again. I?m anxious to live a pure, plain, honest life with no secrets and no lies.?
He admitted again that the photographs of him taken in 2007 wearing women?s lingerie were legitimate and came about when he was in a cocaine and alcohol-induced haze. He vehemently denied, however, a New York Post report on Thursday which said he paid a $20 million settlement to Milana Dravnel to keep her from talking about the racy photos.
?That?s baloney. Baloney,? De La Hoya said of the report.
