In a predictable but sad twist to the “homeless to Hollywood” Golden-voiced rags-to-riches story, Ted Williams has checked himself out of rehab after only two weeks. When Williams first shot to fame he insisted he’d been clean and sober for two years. Either Williams slipped or he was lying about his sobriety, because some of his many children told Dr. Phil that he’d been drinking heavily. Ted has a history of crack addiction and has been accused of working as a pimp for his addict girlfriend, who is also now in rehab. Dr. Phil had the guy’s entire family on the show, (in a multi-part series, nach) where they confronted him about his longstanding addiction and how he abandoned their family. Now that Dr. Phil has done his part and washed his hands of the guy, he’s issued a predictable press release about how Williams is an adult and his participation in rehab is voluntary:

Ted Williams — the homeless man with the Golden Voice — has reportedly quit rehab and the man who convinced him to seek treatment for drug and alcohol abuse is speaking out exclusively to RadarOnline.com.

Dr. Phil McGraw, who had Williams agree to go to rehab in South Texas after a “lengthy one-on-one” discussion, released the following statement:

“Ted was given the chance to voluntarily enter a drug rehabilitation facility in order to help him in dealing with his dependency on drugs and alcohol. In that it is voluntary, the decision to remain in treatment, is Ted’s to make. We certainly hope that he continues his commitment to sobriety, and we will continue to help and support him in any way that we can. We wish him well.”

[From Radar Online]

Have any of you read the memoir The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls? (She used to do the MSNBC The Scoop column.) I’m not going to give away major spoilers, but there are some to follow. Walls basically tells the story of her family and growing up. The fact that her parents ended up homeless was almost entirely their own doing. There’s a scene where Walls is in a college class and tries to make the point that a lot of homeless people “choose” to be there, after which she is quickly shot down. (It’s not like she was going to admit that she had homeless family members.) I’ve never really held that belief, but after reading that book I gained the understanding that homelessness is a much more complicated issue than just people down on their luck. This case kind of proves that. Add some serious addictions in there, and there’s no easy solution like “go to rehab,” although it’s a start.

Photos are from 1/6/11, credit: Fame Pictures

Dr. Phil got his famewhore mitts on Ted Williams, the golden-voiced homeless guy who shot to fame just last week when a video shot by his local Columbus, Ohio newspaper went viral. Dr. Williams and his estranged family were on Phil’s show yesterday and from what I gather they got to the guy to admit that he’s drinking again, and that he was drunk when he attacked and threw an ice bucket at one of his daughters during that altercation they had a hotel in LA a couple of days ago. (I’ve tried to watch the show, but it’s not available online or on iTunes. You can see clips and a preview on Dr. Phil’s site.) Williams’ first version of events had him as the sober victim who didn’t fight back against his daughter.

This must be a ratings boon to Phil, because he’s had Williams on Tuesday, Wednesday, and now today, Thursday. I feel like this guy has been railroaded and used by the press, but at least Dr. Phil is helping him during these tough love pseudo counseling sessions with the family he abandoned. Williams admits to Phil that he was a crack addict and it sounds like he has a girlfriend back in Columbus who is also an addict. The advice Phil gives Williams is very practical, and he’s focused on ensuring he doesn’t throw away this “second chance” (I’m sure it’s the guy’s umpteenth chance) at escaping a life on the streets. Dr. Phil bugs me, but he’s saying the same thing we all are about how Williams needs help at managing all these opportunities, and he’s calling the guy on his bullsh*t somewhat. Here’s some of what Phil told Williams:

What do you think I mean when I say I want to help you manage this so it works long-term?” Dr. Phil asks Ted, who says he’s been sober for two and 1/2 years.

“Making sure that I stay rooted in the recovery process,” Ted answers.

“I know that drug addiction and alcoholism is a complex disease. It’s resistant to treatment and it is subject to relapse,” Dr. Phil warns. “It will kick your ass, if you let it. You know that. It’s destroyed your life.”

Ted agrees. “I’ve lost custody of my kids. I’ve lost homes. I’ve lost everything,” he reveals.

Dr. Phil says that he’s rooting for Ted to succeed but warns him about the pitfalls of sudden fame. “That 15 minutes is going to come to an end. In two or three months, the cameras are going to go away, the lights are going to go away, all the buzz is going to go away, and you’re going to be left with a life to manage,” he says. He implores Ted to come clean about his past before any negative elements are dug up and brought to light. “You know your life has been anything but angelic.”

“True. I’ve never tried to hide that aspect,” Ted says…

“You know that you’re going to get back to the microphone, and you know you’re going to have some opportunities,” Dr. Phil says. “The question is: Why will there be a different outcome this time? The last time you had success, the last time you had a job, the last time you had it going on, you got into drugs and alcohol, and you wound up homeless on the streets.”

[From Dr. Phil.com]

That’s from the show that aired on Tuesday. Later in that show, Dr. Phil asks Ted why he didn’t support his ex wife, who is legally blind and raised two of his kids along with at least one other kid he had with another woman. (Who was a drug addict, like Ted.) He offered the very lame excuse that “Patti was a very independent mother, and she never made me feel that there was a sense of urgency to help her,” and lamely added “Patti never called me or threatened me for child support, never garnished any wages.” Are you kidding me? He also denied a story that he was annoying a local storeowner by stealing from cars in the parking lot and peeing in public. Dr. Phil didn’t ask him about the story that Ted was also pimping out his girlfriend there.

When Williams met up with his family, he kept offering them money and told his daughter not to worry because he’d buy her a Louis Vuitton purse. She answered “That won’t make up for the lost times, Daddy. I don’t care how much money you give me.”

Anyway this guy is going to rehab, I guess Dr. Phil convinced him, and that’s the best place for him for now. The more we learn about this guy, the worse he’s looking. He abandoned his family, he lies repeatedly, and he’s a criminal. I want this story to have a happy ending, though, if only for all the people that he’s disappointed all his life. Plus it’s clear that he’s kind of scared and almost helpless now that his life has changed so dramatically overnight.

This probably sounds terrible, but I keep thinking of that crack addict that Dave Chappelle played. Like this intervention on The Dr. Phil show is just a variation of this episode of Chappelle’s show LMAO at that episode. We need Chappelle to come back.

Photo credit: Fame Pictures and WENN.com

I’ve read so many stories about the golden-voiced formerly homeless guy Ted Williams lately I don’t know where to start. After the video of Williams and his radio perfect voice went viral last week, it seems like he’s been everywhere. We’ve seen his reunion with his 90 year-old mom, his new commercial for Kraft, and interviews with him on multiple talkshows including The Today Show, The Early Show, The Tonight Show, The Late Show, Good Morning America and Entertainment Tonight. He’s been offered multiple jobs both in Ohio where he was discovered on a streetcorner and with national corporations like the NFL, MTV, ESPN and Oprah’s OWN Network.

After Williams was thrust into the spotlight, The Smoking Gun found that he has a lengthy arrest record, mostly for theft and drug possession. He also has a whopping nine children by different women, which were cared for by the ex he left behind and her family members. His ex wife is legally blind and took responsibility for not only her own children with Williams, but children he fathered with a “druggie girlfriend” while Williams was on the streets.

So this isn’t a clear cut story of a guy who found sobriety, faith and fame when his talent was discovered after a hard knock life on the streets. What’s more is that William isn’t sober, according to one of his daughters. He’s claimed to have been sober for about two years, but his daughter says he’s drinking again, and has consumed at least a bottle of Grey Goose a night, along with multiple beers and wine. Ted’s daughter told her story to Entertainment Tonight after the cops were called due to a loud fight she got in with him at a hotel in LA. Ted and his daughter were detained and released and neither decided to press charges. Ted claims that’s not true, that he’s not drinking, and that his daughter is “selling [him] out” due to his “fame and fortune.”

I saw the video of Ted’s daughter telling the story of their fight on Entertainment Tonight (you can watch it here) and I have to say I believe the daughter. This guy was homeless for nearly 20 years and all of a sudden he’s famous, living in hotels and being courted by the media. It’s a lot of pressure and a huge change and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was drinking again. I hope someone helps him out and is there for him. If he starts drinking and drugging again it’s not going to turn out well for him.

Dr. Phil is offering Ted his sobriety advice, though, and that might help for about 10 minutes. He told him to go to 90 AA meetings in 90 days. (You can watch that video here.)

And here’s a link to video of Ted reuniting with two of his kids, his first born son and his first daughter. He later fought with another daughter. This story is just ready made for the tabloids.

Header image credit: ETOnline

Just yesterday I saw this video on D-Listed of a homeless man in Columbus, Ohio with the voice of a national radio announcer. 53 year-old Ted Williams had been on the streets for about a year after losing everything due to drug and alcohol addiction. Williams explained that he’s been sober for two years, though, and was hoping to find employment using his amazing voice.

Thanks to the massive near-instant popularity of the video, Williams got a haircut and an interview on the CBS Early Show, where he got choked up when he revealed that someone had gifted him a trip to Brooklyn to visit his 92 year-old mother, who he hasn’t seen in years. He called his overnight change of fate “sensational,” “numbing” and “overwhelming.” He also noted that people have compared him to Susan Boyle.

The good fortune for Williams hasn’t stopped there. He’s earned that job that he was hoping for, and has been offered a position with basketball team The Cleveland Cavaliers as an announcer. They’re even going to pay for his house! Here’s audio of his radio interview with the job offer. Their rep explains that they’ve been inspired by “the power of your voice, the power of your dreams and the power of your vision.” She explained that “We’d like to offer you full time work with both the Cleveland Cavaliers as well as the Quicken Loans Arena. We have a lot of amazing voiceover opportunities. We do tons of commercial work, we do tons of broadcast work both on radio as well as television… because we know that you’re a person who is trying to get… on your feet, Quicken Loans is actually offering to pay a mortgage on a home.” Williams said “That’s the best deal ever.”
(Job offer starts at 5:31) [via Filmdrunk]

Williams later exclaimed “The Cleveland Cavaliers have offered me a full time job and a house!” What a truly inspiring story this is.

Update: Here’s Williams on The Today Show. He says that the last time he was in New York was 1986, before he got addicted to drugs. He’s also been offered a job with Kraft. This story got me all choked up.