Ronnie O'Sullivan has opened up about his personal demons in an enthralling interview on RTE's The Late Late Show.
In a fascinating chat with host Ryan Tubridy, O'Sullivan spoke about his love of snooker growing up, his drug and alcohol problems, and his struggles in the aftermath of his parents being sent to prison.
O'Sullivan's father was sent to prison for murder when the Rocket was just 15 years of age. His mother was later sent to prison while O'Sullivan was still a teenager, and the young Ronnie looked was forced into a position of looking after his sister.
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"He was a massive part of my life. My rock, my mentor," said O'Sullivan about his father, "big character, Dell-Boy and I was Rodney.
"Obviously he got done for murdering someone when I was 15. He went to jail for 20 years. That rocked me. I found that quite difficult to deal with and I lost my way a little bit."
He revealed that he 'went off the rails' for around seven years and struggled with drug and alcohol problems.
"Three years later she (Mother) went away for tax evasion, and that's when I kind of went off the rails a little bit.
"I started drinking and partying and all that sort of us.
"With my parents, I always felt accountable to them to not misbehave because I didn't want to disappoint them.
"And when my Mum went away, there was no-one around to keep me in check. Them six months I went off the rails and I didn't quite recover for about 7 or 8 years, I just kind of went wild really.
O'Sullivan told Tubridy that cannabis was his drug of choice, and explained how he needed to pull out of a few tournaments at the time in order to avoid failing drug tests.
Enough was enough and O'Sullivan eventually went to rehab for a month.
That stint changed his life, and The Rocket has never looked back.
In 2022, O'Sullivan won the World Championship for a record tying seventh time. He revealed to Tubridy however, that he didn't get too fussed about tying the record because for a period of his career, he didn't think he would be victorious at the Crucible again.
The Rocket also went into detail on his relationship with his father today and spoke about how he visited him in prison. He also revealed that he doesn't like his father watching him play because it ramps up pressure on him.
"Every month (He visited his father). I had to. He was my dad, and we're a close family you know.
"They were the best two hours of my month. He made me laugh, he was funny and he made me giggle. I loved my Dad and I loved his company.
"No (He wouldn't be in the audience at a game). We had a problem when I was younger. If I lost, he would always tell me 'you should've done this or that.' I really couldn't play when he was watching me.
"Then when I was 11, I started to win and he was smart enough to go 'he plays better. He wins when I'm not there.]
"When he came out of prison, he came to The Masters. There was 2,000 people there and I couldn't pot a ball. I could feel his energy."
Ronnie's always had a strange relationship with snooker and has at times seemed uninterested in his career and the sport as a whole. He insists however, that his frustrations with the sport come from his love of the game.
While not wanting to break his idle Stephen Hendry's record too much, O'Sullivan did admit that he would love to win a record eighth World title.
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