PITTSBURGH — A contrite Ben Roethlisberger said he got caught up in being a caricature called Big Ben, not the grounded player and person he once was, leading to his off-the-field problems and affecting his play as the Steelers’ quarterback.
“Big Ben just kept building up. It ended up coming off the field. It kept taking over. Superman kept taking over Clark Kent and you just never saw who Ben Roethlisberger was any more,” Roethlisberger told KDKA-TV. “At the time, I didn’t see it. I was gaining everything but I was losing a lot of who I was raised to be. It got so overwhelming, it consumed me.”
In his first detailed interviews since a Georgia college student accused him of sexually assaulting her in a nightclub bathroom March 5, Roethlisberger told Pittsburgh television stations KDKA and WTAE that he doesn’t have an alcohol problem. Before the alleged assault, Roethlisberger and his party ordered considerable amounts of alcohol.
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When the NFL announced Roethlisberger’s six-game suspension on April 21, Commissioner Roger Goodell said the quarterback was required to undergo evaluation. Neither the league nor Roethlisberger have detailed what was being evaluated.
While Roethlisberger told KDKA there were drinking issues on his late mother’s side of the family, he said his father, Ken, never permitted alcohol in their house, even when the quarterback played at Miami of Ohio.
Roethlisberger didn’t promise he wouldn’t use alcohol again, but said he must make “smart” decisions.
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