Grantland offers some more sad insights into the life of Ric Flair

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Original article here: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6891795/the-wrestler-real-life

David Bixenspan of the Bleacher Report synopsised the new information detailed:

• Flair suffers from alcoholic cardiomyopathy, a form of congestive heart failure caused by long-term alcohol abuse. In spite of this, he still wrestles occasionally and takes all of his trademark bumps in those matches. He also suffers from panic attacks and has had at least one nervous breakdown.
  
• This past April, Flair was evicted from his home in Charlotte, North Carolina because he was unable to pay rent.
  
• While it was generally well known that he ignored his taxes throughout the '80s, it wasn't that his first encounter with the IRS over the owed taxes went relatively smoothly. In 1990, he paid $62,000 on back taxes from 1982, 1982, & 1988.
  
• In November of 1990, Flair had to apply for a restricted driver's license that only allowed him to drive for work reasons after driving 95 miles per hour in a 65 miles per hour zone.
  
• Many details of his near-decade long issues with stalker Deann Siden (who later had an affair with and stalked Kurt Angle) are covered. She started stalking him in 1990, following him everywhere, getting kicked out of arenas, and, by 1992, claiming they had an affair that resulted in a child named Tiffany. In 1998, Siden threatened to kill Flair and her daughter.
  
• Flair finally had his lawyers press charges against her on his behalf, and she countered by filing a domestic violence complaint that claimed he threatened to kidnap and beat her if she didn't bring "his" daughter to visit. When she told Flair she'd drop her charges against him if he did the same in the case against here, it didn't work, and the whole mess ended with a judge issuing an injunction against her.
  
• In general, there are a ton of debts and lawsuits over them we didn't know about. They're not surprising, but there are lots of specific cases that previously hadn't been reported. In one, Flair lost a judgment for unpaid tuition that his son's private school had sued for. He also has a variety of liens on his property.
  
• While it doesn't absolve Flair at all, second wife Beth Harrell was also far too free-spending and contributed a lot to the deterioration of their finances.
• Some of the ugly details of his divorce from Beth I remember being reported at the time, like Ric opening up wounds on his forehead when the police came during arguments so he could make her look worse. Others don't seem as familiar, and they're pretty messed up.
  
• According to Beth, Flair would expose himself to friends, acquaintances, and complete strangers. I knew he did this around wrestlers, but not in his personal life. He would hang out with his mistress around the kids, he got into a fistfight with their son Reid at a wedding reception, use racial slurs to refer to her friends, brag about his penis size and demand sex from her.
  
• Beth claims that Ric raped her when she refused to have sex with him.
  
• Flair countered by claiming that, among other things, Beth cursed like a sailor, would assault him the provoke fights, encouraged him to have sex with other women, and was "mentally and physically slovenly."
  
• The IRS started seizing Flair's earnings from WWE in April 2005.
  
• When Flair and third wife Tiffany Vandemark met with a local restauranteur Greg Leon about a loan, Flair offered the engagement ring on her finger as collateral. A "female friend of Leon" urged him not to go along with it, so instead he took a Rolex watch, a boat, and a motorcycle.
  
• Neither vehicle had a proper title, and thus Leon has been unable to sell them to get his money back. He won a judgment against Flair for the full amount owed but not all of it has been repaid.
  
• Financial advisor Scott Storick bilked Flair and his family out of a lot of money in a situation way too involved for me to explain here. Again, everyone should read the original article, as scarily I'm just scratching the surface here.
  
• "Ric Flair Finance," a disastrous online business that referred customers to lenders, was shut down because the "business model … turned out to be completely illegal."
  
• Flair and Vandemark had their own ugly divorce. I had known that she had taken some of his possessions like an old ring robe and sold them to wrestling fans, but that was just the start of it. I'll just quote the article here:"She allegedly broke into the home using a shovel. In the process, she destroyed five "Flair Bear" stuffed animals and took 25. Also taken from Fliehr's house were 12 action figures, two handguns, three robes, a ruby necklace, and Fliehr's dog. One of the destroyed Flair Bears was found in a 'lewd and lascivious' position in Fliehr's pool."
  
• Flair had inherited the necklace from his mother when she passed away.
  
• He filed a complaint of stalking and assault against Vandemark when she hit him with a cell phone charger while trespassing on his property.
  
• As of February, Flair was making about $22,000 each month in TNA, but they hadn't paid him any royalties in six months.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/820894-wwe-news-ric-flairs-personal-and-financial-issues-profiled-in-mainstream-story

Whoooo!

Machismo Fan

I was rather surprised to see TNA only pays him a little more than quarter of a million a year, I'd have pegged it at 400,000-ish at the very least. It's sad but he's never learned how not to be 'The Nature Boy'.

steelcityblues

Machismo Fan wrote: »

I was rather surprised to see TNA only pays him a little more than quarter of a million a year, I'd have pegged it at 400,000-ish at the very least. It's sad but he's never learned how not to be 'The Nature Boy'.

In a way, pro wrestling seems to keep his mind from totally spiralling off - like his special prescription drug.

Having said that, it is not enjoyable watching him at his age in that ring.

rovert

Machismo Fan wrote: »

I was rather surprised to see TNA only pays him a little more than quarter of a million a year, I'd have pegged it at 400,000-ish at the very least. It's sad but he's never learned how not to be 'The Nature Boy'.

He could be on a new deal.

Flair left a $500k ambassador role in WWE so he could wrestle and cut outside deals.

Machismo Fan

steelcityblues wrote: »

Having said that, it is not enjoyable watching him at his age in that ring.

I actually still quite enjoy Flair, he's entertaining.

steelcityblues

Machismo Fan wrote: »

I actually still quite enjoy Flair, he's entertaining.

More the terrible thought that something will go very wrong in the ring one day.

EdK

Had a few drinks with Ric and his wife and a few other TNA wrestlers last January in Manchester,After his falling out with management,He was still trying to buy people drinks which they reluctantly took as to not offend him. When he was asked to sign for them he didn't even look at them but his wife took them and looked at them before she let him sign them.

He's a sad case alright for a guy who's made millions of dollars

rovert

This is the top story on TMZ

Wrestling icon Ric Flair is FURIOUS over an article which claims the Nature Boy is suffering from a serious medical condition caused by years of hardcore boozing ... because Ric claims it's NOT TRUE and now he's threatening to sue.

The unflattering article -- which paints Flair as a troubled, irresponsible mess of a person -- ran on an ESPN affiliated website called Grantland.com ... and the report is mostly based on court documents.

But Flair is particularly pissed about the reporter's claim that he suffers from Alcoholic Cardiomyopathy -- a disease caused by years of alcohol abuse which often leads to heart failure.

A rep for Flair -- -- whose real name is Richard Fliehr -- tells TMZ, "While the information gleaned from courthouse records may be credible, Mr. Fliehr is currently evaluating his legal options with respect to falsehoods in the story, specifically the untrue statement that he suffers from alcoholic cardiomyopathy."

The rep adds, "Our client understands that these allegations are part of the territory when you are not only famous, but a living legend."

http://www.tmz.com/2011/08/26/ric-flair-wr...nd-bill-simmons

Ok right?

How look what he wrote in his book:

Ric Flair: To be the Man, by Ric Flair, Keith Elliot Greenberg, Mark Madden (page 427)

"Through my many years of partying, I also developed something called "alcoholic cardiomyopathy", a weakening of the heart muscles. [...] Initially, I thought that steroids might be responsible, but the doctor dismissed this theory. My heart was fluttering from thirty-five years of hitting it hard."
-Ric Flair

I heard drinking causes memory loss

Rjd2

This proves we should never doubt Scott Steiner again.:D

DEFTLEFTHAND

A man like Ric Flair with the career he has had to date should be looking at settling down and enjoying his life earnings. However instead he has chosen to squander his fortune away on booze and countless marriages. It was his choice to do that, so there is very little sympathy to be had for him on my part.

jaykhunter

It's a sad, sad story; such is the real life of Ric Flair. He's constantly living the life of Naitch 24/7; flittering away his massive earnings as best he can. Failed marriages, heavy drinking and wild spendings. That's him, and how he wants to live his life; die whilst out partying and racked up a ton of debt.

Chronic alcohol abuse effects more than just the heart. But yes alcoholic cariomypathy is one of them. Liver of course, but kidneys, bone, pancreas, lung; sexual dysfunction, you name it. It affects the brain too, eye problems, walking problems, short-term memory loss. It gets much more serious with amnesia amongst others.

I remember reading that someone spent two weeks partying with flair, picking up his tips after he left. In the 2 weeks he picked up $1,500. Seeing the difference between him coming back to the WWF in 2001 and even a year later, it's obvious he spent every night partying.

It's good that he's busy with TNA and that he's not really on the road (these tapings exluded - but relative to being with WWE) but the guy has some serious personal problems. But that's Ric Flair and how he wants to live.

Charisteas

Flair has spent 90% of his money of women and alcohol. The other 10% he's just wasted.