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“He Was on Xanax to Help Him Sleep for Over 30 Years”: Ric Flair’s Uncomfortable Secret Revealed by Friend and Well-Wisher (Exclusive)

Published Oct 8, 2023 | 1:15 PM EDT

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Nature Boy Ric Flair has been a part of the pro wrestling industry for most of his life and has lived an outlandish life in and outside the ring. However, the flamboyant and charismatic Flair also had some chinks in his armor. In fact, EssentiallySports got into a conversation with just the right person to give all the answers about Ric Flair’s life.

Adam Wilks is the man behind the operations of Mike Tyson’s multimillion-dollar cannabis empire and an expert in its usage. He is also a business partner to Ric Flair and recently spoke to EssentiallySports in an exclusive interview. Wilks shed light on an uncomfortable secret Flair had masked throughout his career and even after that.

The haunting problem Ric Flair faced during his illustrious career

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Ric Flair was renowned for being the face of NWA and later WCW for most of his career. A career lasting nearly five decades also meant he faced his fair share of ups and downs. Despite his problems, the Nature Boy always delivered what he came for, and EssentiallySports just found out why. 

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Adam Wilks recently opened up about a nagging trouble Flair faced. Apparently, Flair had a lot of trouble sleeping. In fact, he couldn’t sleep naturally at all. Wilks said in an exclusive with EssentiallySports, “Ric is Ric Flair. He has embodied that character for 30+ years since the late 80s. That is Ric. And where he’s going to be in authenticity, I mean I don’t know if you know Ric’s story but I mean he was on Xanax to help him sleep for over 30 years.” However, Adam Wilks changed this and helped Flair get some peace of mind.

“When he met Tad and myself we introduced him to edibles which completely changed his life where we developed again the ‘Wooooo Chew’ That’s where we were like hey if I got an alternative medicine that can get him off of Xanax that is natural and plant based umm.. I mean we are doing our job right. So for the first time in 30 years, he isn’t using Xanax.” 

Read more- Close Aide Reveals How Mike Tyson, Ric Flair, and Hulk Hogan Achieved $160 Million Global Success, What Set Them Apart From Competitors (Exclusive)

This helped the wrestler get a better grip on himself. Prior to this, Flair couldn’t get much sleep. In fact, he couldn’t even recall if he had slept the night prior or not.

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The story of the 17 nervous breakdowns

Ric Flair has won the World title in pro wrestling 16 times, but he continuously punished his body for it. The Nature Boy opened up about his active days in August 2023 and revealed that he went through 17 nervous breakdowns. Flair recalled in This Past Weekend podcast with Theo Von that he used to be extremely exhausted all the time and barely got any sleep. Moreover, when he was asked if he got any sleep, he didn’t have any memory of ever falling asleep.


The sleeplessness took a huge toll on Flair’s mental health. This also led him to turn to alcohol very frequently to help him relax just for a bit. Being a popular wrestler, Flair was always on tour from one state to another and also traveled internationally. This just made everything into long liminal time spaces of fragmented sleep. 

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Fortunately, Flair met Wilks and it has helped The Nature Boy sleep naturally. 

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Written by:

Sheron Singh

878Articles

One take at a time

Oh, let me tell you about myself, I'm Sheron Singh, the WWE aficionado and person behind many of trending WWE stories at EssentiallySports. My journey into the world of suplexes and powerbombs began at the age of 6, thanks to my father and I've been hooked ever since. With a postgraduate degree in clinical psychology, I have the superpower to dissect the emotions both in and outside that squared circle at ES.
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Edited by:

Sherjeel Malik