Former Pakistan legendary seamer Wasim Akram admitted to drug addiction for the first time in his new autobiography titled – Sultan: A Memoir.
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Akram, 56, said that said he began using cocaine while working as a television pundit around the world.
“The culture of fame in south Asia is all-consuming, seductive and corrupting,” he told the Times.
“It started innocuously enough when I was offered a line at a party in England; my use grew steadily more serious, to the point that I felt I needed it to function.
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“It made me volatile. It made me deceptive.”
However, he finally came out of it following the death of his first wife.
“Huma eventually found me out, discovering a packet of cocaine in my wallet . . . ‘You need help.’ I agreed.
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“Huma, I know, was often lonely in this time, she would talk of her desire to move to Karachi, to be nearer her parents and siblings. I was reluctant.
“Why? Partly because I liked going to Karachi on my own, pretending it was work when it was actually about partying, often for days at a time.”
“Huma’s last selfless, unconscious act was curing me of my drug problem. That way of life was over, and I have never looked back.”
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“I’m a bit anxious about the book,” he said, “but I think once it is out, I’ll be kind of over it. I’m anxious because at my age, I’m 56 and I’ve been diabetic for 25 years, it is just stress, you know . . . it was tough to revisit all the things. I’ve done it for my two boys, who are 25 and 21, and my seven-year-old daughter, just to put my side of the story.”
