HE was the Man who had everything – a Million Dollar wrestling career and lifestyle.
But behind the famous laugh and wads of cash, Ted DiBiase’s ego and womanising were out of control.
Then one phone call from his wife saved his marriage, changed his life and made Ted a role model for every aspiring wrestler in the business today.
Surprisingly, that conversation involved his beloved Melanie confronting him over his cheating.
In an exclusive interview with SunSport, The Million Dollar Man admitted: “I had everything I’d ever asked for, but what took over and consumed my life for 20 years was my pride. The ego. Life all became about me. It was very self-serving.
“At the pinnacle of my success in the early 1990s, I really let the notoriety and money go to my head.
“What finally broke that cycle was my adultery being caught out.
“I called home the day after WrestleMania VIII from a payphone in the lobby of a Detroit hotel.
“That was when my wife confronted me about the fact that she had discovered that I’d been fooling around.
“In a fraction of a second I realised that I had put at risk the most valuable things in my life.
“The love and devotion of a committed wife and the stability, future, wellbeing and peace of mind of my three children.
“And all for what? To stroke my ego? To be a big shot out there?
“It just hit me and I took a long, hard, look in the mirror and realised in spite of my success I didn’t like what I saw.
“That’s what caused me to turn back to God and all of those values that I had as a young man.”
DREAM MATCH ... against Dusty Rhodes in WWE days
World Wrestling Entertainment
The star’s legendary wrestler father Mike DiBiase died in the ring when Ted was just 15-years-old.
His mother then became an alcoholic and died a few months after he turned 30.
The star’s faith helped him overcome those problems and, after rediscovering God and being ordained as a minister, Ted now helps others do the same.
He said: “I go to prisons, orphanages, youth detention centres and churches to speak to various groups.
“Usually I target men because I think that most men can identify with a lot of the struggles that I had.
“Being The Million Dollar Man definitely helps me. Guys in prison, their outlet to the outside world is television and I’m told wrestling is one of their favourite things.
“Also when they’ve messed up and find themselves in jail, they can look at me and say, ‘Here’s a guy who had success. He’s had fame and made some money and had the nicer things, but he’s telling us that’s not what happiness is.’
“I tell them the bottom line is that your life is the sum total of the choices that you make and we can’t choose our circumstances in life.
“I didn’t choose to have my father die and my mother to become a drunk or to end up in a little bitty town in southern Arizona.
“Now I could have taken the easy way – chosen to be bitter and angry at my mother and just wallow in the same self-pity that she did.
“That’s what alcoholism and any addiction is.
“But you have to say: ‘OK here’s a circumstance, I didn’t choose it, but what am I going to do with it? Am I going to let it get the best of me or am I going to rise above it?’
“When I had problems that choice was mine and the choice to overcome them was also mine.”
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It’s a philosophy Ted applies to the whole of the wrestling business, saying those former grapplers who got caught up in steroid and drug abuse only have themselves to blame.
He also reveals that WWE boss Vince McMahon told him NOT to dabble with any performance enhancing substances.
DiBiase added: “After the Chris Benoit tragedy, everybody who had an axe to grind came out and said: ‘WWE needs to do this and WWE needs to do that.’
“But I went on Larry King and I said: ‘Hey, look man. They’ve got a state-of-the-art drug testing policy, what else do you want them to do?’
“People have to take responsibility for the choices they make.
“Of course – with exceptions like Rey Mysterio – wrestling tends to be a ‘big guy’ business.
“The bigger and more impressive you are, the better you often do. It’s the same in Hollywood.
“But I think a lot of guys just used that as an excuse.
“I never felt any pressure to take steroids. In fact, I remember Vince McMahon saying to me directly: ‘You don’t need that c**p!’
“Those were the words that came right from his mouth.
“He said to stay in the gym, be fit, obviously look as good as you can, but he was in the wrestling business not the bodybuilding business.”
With Ted’s three kids all wanting to follow in the family tradition and become wrestling superstars, it’s advice he also needs to make sure is heeded closer to home.
Ted’s middle son, who shares his name, is now part of the WWE’s Raw brand and recently held the tag team championship.
His youngest, Brett, is training at the WWE developmental school in Tampa and oldest, Michael, is making a name on the independent scene.
But how does The Million Dollar Man plan to stop fame and money going to the head of the new Ted DiBiase and his brothers?
FATHERLY ADVICE ... with Ted
World Wrestling Entertainment
The grappling icon – who is still with the WWE in an ambassador role – said: “What I’ve told my boys is that if you take the talents that I believe are God-given and use them as a platform to bring recognition to him and not yourself, the sky’s the limit.
“When I say that I don’t mean my sons are going to be walking around the dressing room thumping bibles and preaching to guys, but I said to live your faith in front of these guys.
“Live with integrity, live with humility, don’t let it go to your head.
“When you make some really big money, don’t go out and take the first million dollars you make and buy a Mercedes and a Porsche.
“I speak to the wrestling students and one of the things I tell the students is that I don’t care how talented you are, I don’t care if you are the best athlete in the building, if you don’t have character to go along with your ability, you’ll never make it.
“It’s the reason John Cena does so well.
“I told Randy Orton to his face: ‘Randy, you are a much more natural athlete than John, but you know why John is the number one guy and you’re not?
“’It’s because the bottom line is that Vince wants to have the peace of mind that if he is going to invest all this money in this guy, he doesn’t want to have a phone call in the middle of the night that his flag-bearer has torn up a hotel room or done something else stupid and got arrested.’”
Ted adds: “By the grace of God I’m still with this wonderful woman who was willing to give me a second chance, and willing to allow me the time to become a man of integrity.
“Melanie and I are closer now and more intimate than we have ever been. She is my best friend and we share everything.
“But my sons understand all the trials their mother and I went though.
“I told them to learn from Dad’s mistakes and they seem to be.”
