The career of Jeff Hardy has been a roller coaster ride. The charismatic enigma has been to the top of the mountain but he has also seen the rock bottom due to his struggles with addiction. One such moment that really opened his eyes was Hardy’s arrest in 2009 for illegally ordering controlled prescription pills. Jeff had been released by WWE only a couple of weeks earlier after failing his second drug test.
The WWE star opened up about the time during his recent appearance on Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions. The high-flying star admitted that he felt like his life was over when the SWAT team came busting in his house to arrest him:
“I was ordering pills illegally in the mail [and] got busted. SWAT team comes into my house, me and my wife and our little dog. I was busted. I got busted for getting pills illegally. I thought my life was over. [I] went to jail that weekend. It was a mind-blowing experience. I was terrified. I thought my life was over. That was the time that really scared me straight.
When I realized that ‘okay, things might be okay. This might not be the end of my life. As long as I get clean and I do what I need to be doing and staying clean and staying out of trouble. Things are going to be alright.’ And that led to 2010 man. My wife gave birth to our first daughter, and then five years later to our second daughter. But yeah, leaving WWE where I was, and then it was like, oh my god, total rock bottom.”
Jeff Hardy Thought He Would Never Go Back To WWE
When Stone Cold asked Jeff Hardy what it felt like when the cops came in to arrest him, the former world champion said that it was a terrifying experience. The wrestling veteran recalled how he thought he would never be able to return to WWE after that. Though according to him, the whole experience made him a better person overall:
“Oh my god. It’s terrifying when you’re looking at it [with] your wife beside you. Handcuffed, face down to the floor. I wrote a song about it called rebellious. It’s about that fear. All those cops in there. It was terrifying. It was completely surreal. But again, overall, in the big picture of everything, [it has] made me a better human being. They were huge mistakes. I was like, ‘I’m probably never going to go back to WWE, they can never trust me again, after all this.’ Even though if I’m doing good in this other wrestling world, I just didn’t know.”
Jeff Hardy was sentenced to ten days in jail and 30 months of probation for the incident along with a hefty fine. After his WWE release, Hardy returned to TNA and went on to have a significant run with the promotion. Thankfully, the 2009 incident didn’t close the doors for his WWE return completely. After getting clean, Jeff alongside his brother Matt Hardy made his triumphant return to WWE during WrestleMania 33 in 2017.
If you use any quotes from the article please credit SEScoops with a H/t for the transcription.
