Footy star Kurtley Beale opens up about his 'embarrassing' stint in rehab after alcohol abuse drove him to one of the lowest points in his life
Wallabies veteran Kurtley Beale has candidly opened up about his 2013 stint in rehab for alcohol abuse, saying the 'embarrassing' period of his life made him realise he had been in denial.
Beale, now 36 and having made a successful return from a ruptured Achilles tendon, is hoping to be granted a Wallabies recall for the upcoming British and Irish Lions Test series.
For Beale, much has changed since the Lions' previous visit to Australia in 2013.
Just months leading up to that series, Beale checked himself into a private rehabilitation facility in a bid to overcome highly-publicised battles with alcohol.
Beale had just been sent home from South Africa in disgrace after getting into a drunken fight with Melbourne Rebels teammate Cooper Vuna and club captain Gareth Delve.
It proved to be an important wake-up call for the then 24-year-old.
'The three, four months leading into the last Lions series was quite heavy,' Beale said.
'I got sent home from South Africa. I was suspended indefinitely.
'And from then, I decided to check myself into rehab to have a real good, hard think about some of the decisions that were happening in the lead-up to the incident.
'The big thing I learned about was just where my behaviours came from - like from a young age and what I saw growing up.
'But at the end of the day, I had to take responsibility for my actions and not make excuses about it going forward, and really own it, really own my mistakes and try and learn from them.'
Owning up to his faults and committing to fixing them didn't come easily at first.
'There was a period there when I was in rehab, kind of accepting the fact that I was in denial about a lot of the things,' Beale says.
'As soon as I kind of manned up and faced them, reality hit.
'We are all humans, we all make mistakes, and it's unfortunate being in the limelight as well.
'It's all over the pages - all your issues and all your problems.
'But it is what it is, right? It's part of the parcel, I guess, of being a professional sports person.'
So what was rehab like?
'You have your own room. You can't have your phone, you're isolated from the outside world,' Beale explained.
'And you go into these sessions where you're learning about your behaviours and picking up if you have certain issues around depression, anxiety, addiction, addictive behaviours, how to deal with them.
'And just talking about your inner child - it's going pretty deep. All that kind of stuff. It was eye-opening.
'It was a pretty low point in my life. Pretty embarrassing as well.'
While in rehab, Beale had the motivation of making it back for the 2013 Lions series.
And one influential figure never lost faith in him: former Wallabies coach Robbie Deans.
'I've built a really special relationship with Robbie, who backed me and saw something in me,' Beale said.
'He was the one that gave me my first opportunity as a Wallaby, so I built a really special friendship with him, and he helped mentor me in certain aspects of my life.'
Deans took a punt on Beale for that series.
Although Beale slipped when attempting what could have been the match-winning penalty goal in the 80th minute of game one at Suncorp Stadium, he played a vital role in the thrilling 16-15 game-two win, before the Lions wrapped up the series with a 41-16 romp.
Twelve years on, Beale would love nothing more than to reignite his 95-Test career.
He will definitely face the Lions - when the Western Force play them in Perth on June 28, then possibly again on July 12 in Adelaide (for an Invitational Australia and NZ side) and again on July 22 in Melbourne (for a First Nations and Pasifika XV).
But it is a Wallabies gold jersey he craves the most.
Beale was called into the national squad by coach Joe Schmidt in June last year, only to rupture his Achilles tendon a little over a week later.
He made a highly-anticipated return for the Force in early May and has since been training the house down.
'Through the tough times, I've always visualised my comeback and seeing myself come back and represent at the highest level,' Beale says.
'So I feel like I'll be ready if given the opportunity. It would be a dream come true.'
On Thursday, Schmidt will unveil his Wallabies squad for the July 6 clash with Fiji, before announcing his squad for the Lions series on July 11.
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