Ben Cousins + Scott Miller: Addiction, Recovery, and the Courage to Ask for Help

**Scott Miller** (0:03)
Hey, you've just got to own your shit. Don't think you're weak by putting your hand up and saying, help, I don't know how to get out of this. And for me, that was being arrested.
That was the help that I needed.

**Aleda** (0:14)
Can you relate to that, Ben, as well, that was a positive thing in the end for you?

**Ben Cousins** (0:18)
I ended up being in three times all up. And the third time, I'm now petrified. I honestly feel in my heart of hearts that if I'm not already at that place where you are in a forever cycle, I've just gone back in and out of prison for the next 30 years. I'm as close as you can be to being in that place.

**Aleda** (0:35)
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Empowering Leaders podcast. At Aleda, we are passionate about inspiring connections and creating a world of collaboration. Our signature program, Aleda Connect, curates groups of five to six leaders from diverse backgrounds in sport, industry, social venture and the arts who come together to learn, to connect and to collaborate. The Empowering Leaders podcast is proudly brought to you by Victoria University, where cutting edge sports and exercise science facilities like heat chambers, performance labs and altitude environments mean VU is ranked seventh in the world for sport science. VU, uniquely you. If you enjoy listening to the Empowering Leaders podcast, be sure to subscribe and please if you have a moment, we would love you to leave a review so we can reach more listeners and empower more leaders.
Today's conversation is about two remarkable Australians who have transcended their sport.
Scott Miller stood on the Olympic podium as one of Australia's greatest swimmers when he went Olympic silver, and widely regarded as one of the most gifted athletes of his generation. Ben Cousins reached the pinnacle of Australian football, the Premiership captain, Brownlow medalist, and one of the most naturally gifted players our game has ever seen. Both have experienced extraordinary success, and both also lived through some profound personal struggles that saw addiction take hold, careers in, and ultimately some time spent in prison. Many people know these headlines. What inspires me the most about the opportunity to have this conversation is sitting in front of these two extraordinary people we see today in great health. Scott's extraordinary honesty in the ABC documentary, The Scott Miller Story, Deepan, gave us all an unfiltered insight into his challenges, and today he's committed to sharing his story to help others find their own path to recovery. And Ben has rebuilt his life with remarkable courage and authenticity, now back presenting the Sports News on Channel 7, Breakfast Radio host in Perth.
Conversation is not going to be about reliving past mistakes necessarily, it's about a great leadership story, leadership of self, and perhaps more importantly, leadership through hope. And I'm sure both these men will agree, if this conversation helps one person who's struggling, or a family trying to connect and support with a loved one, it'll be a conversation worth having. Scott Miller, Ben Cousins, thanks for joining me.

**Scott Miller** (2:51)
Thanks, Luke. Thank you.

**Aleda** (2:53)
Really appreciate it. I wanted to perhaps go back and, if you could both think of yourselves as 22-year-old athletes, at the absolute prime of your sporting prowess, knowing what you know now, Scott, if you could have a conversation with yourself, what would you say?

**Scott Miller** (3:11)
I'd say after the Olympics, go to America and do college.

**Aleda** (3:17)
Was that a chance?

**Scott Miller** (3:18)
I would have always been on the cards. I think you got four years, I was 21, so you got to be finished, your college sort of uni at 25, and there was a bit of interest from a couple of unis. I thought about it, but in hindsight, that would have been just the logical thing, the smartest thing I could have done and I should have done it.

**Aleda** (3:36)
How about you, Ben?

**Ben Cousins** (3:37)
You know, I think even at that stage, I from my age didn't have nearly as much self-awareness as I do now. And I, with my make up had an ability to hyperfocus on the things I was passionate about and football was it. So that very thing that allowed me to just double down on that and the training and the preparation made me good at what I did. But with that, I also had this need to feel like I had to have an escape. How I balanced that out and I didn't sit there and make a conscious decision to go down the path I did.