Sam Newman reveals why he gave up alcohol
Controversial TV figure Sam Newman has revealed he’s proudly celebrating ten years of sobriety while opening up on the life-changing incident that made him decide to give up alcohol.
Fiona Byrne
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Former Footy Show headline magnet Sam Newman has spoken of life without booze.
Newman, 74, is marking 10 years this month since he gave up drinking after realising the impact it could have on his TV career and life.
Newman’s grog ban came after a close call with a booze bus and the fact that he had previously lost his licence in 1996 for drink driving.
“I’d lost my license for drink driving (after) a celebratory night at the old casino before the new one was built and I fell out of the car I was driving when I was pulled up by the police,” Newman said on his You Can’t Be Serious podcast with Don Scott.
“I was driving beautifully, I have to say that there was no reason they pulled me up other than it was 3am and I was driving home, they (the police) opened the door and I fell out of the car and I was 0.14 and I lost my license for 18 months.
“It was a disgraceful thing to happen. .. I copped it and so I should have.”
Newman said a decade ago his drinking days came to an end.
“About ten years ago almost to the day I had been to lunch at The Stokehouse and I had had two or three glasses of red wine and I was driving home, this was when The Footy Show was in full swing, and there was a breathalyser on Beaconsfield Parade and as I got to it I thought, ‘Oh my god, I don’t think I am over, but if I am 0.06 and lose my licence, I will lose my job, I will lose my livelihood, I will lose everything .. because I am a recidivist,’ he said.
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Newman said he was waived through the booze bus station but the scare was enough to put a cork in his bottle.
“I got home and I said I am never going to have drink again and I have never had one since that day, ever, for any reason.”