“I got hooked. I didn’t get hooked on the high, I got hooked on the fact that it went to the sexual side of my brain,” Ridge said.
Ridge said people now claimed to have known he was a “meth head” at the time, but declared nobody knew.
“I was doing television, I was going to work, I was a functioning drug addict.
“I’d get up in the morning, go to work, have meetings and all of that s**t, but then I’d just jump on my bike. And that’s what saved me was the riding, because I just got so fit.”
Asked how he finally stopped his two-year addiction, Ridge said he was asked by New Zealand television producer Julie Christie to do a show - which he believed was Treasure Island in Fiji.
“So I just stopped, because I can stop like that. I don’t have an addictive personality.”
Ridge said he came back from the seven-week show - during which he had no drugs - and the producers showed him an image of himself on the island.
“I had no light in my eyes. I looked like I was dead.
“I had to get away from everything because I could see that I was going down a dark route.”
Ridge had previously opened up on his struggles with addiction on his own podcast, The Brink Podcast, and said his goal in doing so was to help others going through a similar situation who may feel embarrassed to talk about it.
During the Between Two Beers podcast episode, Ridge also reflected on his three-year stint playing for the Auckland Warriors from 1997 to 1999 after a highly successful six-year career with the Manly Sea Eagles, saying he found it a “really hard” transition.
“I had super high standards and [had] come from the best team ... I came back to a team that had no culture, no coach. [John] Monie was a, sorry John, but he wasn’t a very good coach and certainly not a good man manager.
“It’s okay if you’re not a good coach but you’ve either got to be a man manager or technically really good coach.”
Ridge said he felt he was “thrust” into a role where he started coaching, but other players didn’t want to listen.
“Do I regret coming back to the Warriors,” Ridge questioned before a long pause.
“No, because it made me resilient ... and I met some real cool people.”
He went on to say that when he joined the Warriors, the “guys were cool, but they just weren’t tough enough”.
“They just didn’t have that mental resilience ... and that’s why we’re still struggling today,” Ridge said.
“You got to clear the dead wood man, and the dead wood starts at the top. It’s not their coach, I think their coach is on the right track.
“But sorry ... all you guys that have been there for ages in those coaching roles and all that s**t and all this s**t, hey fellas, what have you done for 20 f*****g years,” Ridge said.
Ridge, now living in France, says his priority now is his two youngest children.
“We went to France because I wanted my two youngest to speak their mother’s tongue, which they are doing fluently now.”
Show notes | Matthew Ridge
0:00 Seamus and his Matthew Ridge merch
3:44 Reminiscing on 90s rugby league
5:34 Developing mental resilience at an early age
10:23 Male role models
14:27 A talented teenage sportsman
19:15 The taxi incident
34:37 Matthew Ridge and Zinzan Brooke
42:47 Getting into league with Manly at 21
48:29 Matthew and Marc
55:33 Carfe
59:55 The Brink and talking addiction
1:06:35 The power of storytelling
1:11:57 The controversial launch of The Brink
1:15:51 Reflecting on parenting through relationship breakdowns
1:26:03 Matthew and Jaime
1:31:54 Tell the truth
1:33:12 Reflecting on the Warriors experience
1:40:25 France v New Zealand: Present day Ridgey
1:44:38 Last words from Seamus, Steve, and Ridgey
