The WWE has an article on WWE.com talking about Daniel Benoit’s Fragile X Syndrome. The article intimates that the WWE didn’t know about the condition until reading an interview conducted Tuesday by Vancouver’s News1130. This interview led WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt to make statements alluding to the fact that Daniel’s condition may have led Benoit to kill his family. “Him and Nancy were clearly struggling about this whole issue, about how to take care of Daniel,” said McDevitt. “I don’t know what he confronted when he went back into the house,” he said. “No one really knows that. We’ll have to see. Clearly this issue of the son was a stressor on both of their relationships for some time.”
The WWE article alleges that sources close to Benoit recalls similar conversations with him, where he described his son’s condition as “a learning disability much like autism.” This source quotes Benoit as saying “Daniel wasn’t capable of interacting with other children and was afraid of other children. Daniel also had a hard time making eye contact with everyone, which was another symptom of his disability.” Benoit also claimed that his son was on medication for this condition.
The WWE continues to alledge that a co-worker and long-time friend of the Benoits speculates that perhaps the pressures of home and Daniel’s illness had gotten to him, causing him to snap and take the lives of his wife and son before taking his own. “Is it possible that after Chris killed Nancy (for whatever reason), he felt Daniel wouldn’t be able to get the care and attention he required as a special needs child (if that is indeed true) with no mother and a father either in jail or dead? Did he then decide that the only way he could protect and take care of his son was to take him to the next world and go with him? In his warped and twisted state, did he think this was the only way to shield his son from a difficult life of pain and hardship? It doesn’t condone or justify a damn thing, but it’s the best reason I can think of. I’m trying to put together some semblance of logic for his actions, but it’s an impossible task trying to explain this.”
But the WWE article doesn’t divulge these close sources and long-time friends of Benoit who have said these things. Others close to Benoit, like Bret Hart have said they had no idea that anything was wrong with Daniel and that Chris never said anything about. And with a lot of wrestlers saying how private Benoit was, I would tend to believe that Benoit didn’t discuss Daniel’s condition with his co-workers.
Vince McMahon on was on The Today Show this morning and continued his slant saying steroids had nothing to do with the tragedy and talked up the effectiveness of the WWE Wellness Program. Vince also made Benoit out to be a monster. He said that WWE is not trying to hide from the fact that Benoit was a part of their organization. “Unfortunately, he was,” Vince said. He said, “There was no way of telling this man was a monster.” He mentioned Benoit never gave off any signs of this kind of behavior. When the host asked if the business creates monsters, Vince said no. He said they are well adjusted people and performers. He said that he and his company need to move on as best as they can for themselves and their fans.
I really can’t believe how low the WWE is sinking in an effort to put as much space between themselves and Chris Benoit. For the WWE to lay this tragedy at the feet of a 7-year-old boy is just terrible. And then to just lay Benoit out there like he had a killing nature that was just waiting to get out is certainly a strech. The WWE Wellness Program, while good start, is no where near as comprehensive as it should be. In a business that can keep a man away from his family 5-6 days a week – sometimes more – mental health should be as much as a priority as steroid use. And that leads into “does this business create monsters”. Absolutely. It’s no secret Vince loves and pushes big guys. If you want to make it to the top in the WWE, you have to use steroids to bulkd up. Add in the mental strain of being away from your family for so long as well as any drug or alcohol abuse picked up along the way. How many profesional wrestlers have long, happy marriages? How many wrestlers physically abuse their spouses? I know those are broad generalizations, but I am sure they aren’t far off. Much like the life of a Rock star, being a professional wrestler makes it hard to have a happy family.
Professional Wrestlers are victims of their environment, Chris Benoit is just hte most extreme manifestation of it. Look at wrestlers that have recently passed away, Curt Hennig, Rick Rude, Eddy Guerrero . . . they all died by the monster professional wrestling created for them.
So now what? All this tragedy in the world of Professional Wrestling, where do we go? The WWE obviously needs to expand on their Wellness Program. And there needs to be a third party auditing the program so the WWE can’t just look away if a major star test postive for something like steroids. The program needs to be expanded to cover all aspects of a performers health, not just steroid abuse and their hearts. It should cover all drug and alcohol abuse as well as overall physical and mental health. The WWE can start by treating their performers like employees instead of independent contractors and start offering mandatory health insurance. The WWE pulls in so much money would it take that much to setup health insurance and deduct a portion of the performers paycheck like any other business operating today?
If the WWE doesn’t take action and keep their superstars healthy, its going to get to a point where the government steps. It may already be at that point. But either way, the WWE needs to start taking responsibility for its performers instead of just taking until the wrestlers have nothing left.
Before the killings, the family was struggling with how to care for the child, who suffered from a rare medical condition called Fragile X Syndrome, an inherited form of mental retardation, said Jerry McDevitt, an attorney for World Wrestling Entertainment. “Him and Nancy were clearly struggling about this whole issue, about how to take care of Daniel,” said McDevitt.
“I don’t know what he confronted when he went back into the house,” he said. “No one really knows that. We’ll have to see. Clearly this issue of the son was a stressor on both of their relationships for some time.”
McDevitt said the wrestling organization learned from the couple’s friends and relatives that the Benoits were struggling with where to send the boy to school since he had recently finished kindergarten.
He also said Benoit’s wife didn’t want him to quit wrestling, but she “wanted him to be at home more to care for the kid. She’d say she can’t take care of him by herself when he was on the road.”
This is another attempt by the WWE to distance themselves from Chris Benoit and this tragedy. This particular quote from the WWE is a pretty despicable attempt by the WWE to put the focus on Daniel Benoit’s condition and away from the steroid angle and the WWE’s failure with their Wellness Program. And Bob Ryder can tow the industry line and say the media is sensationalizing the story, but the facts and connections speak for themselves.
Chris Benoit met with his personal physician hours before he allegedly killed his wife and son and then hanged himself in his basement, the doctor said Wednesday. “He was in my office on Friday to stop by just to see my staff,” said Dr. Phil Astin of metro Atlanta. “He certainly didn’t show any signs of any distress or rage or anything.”
Astin, who said he was Benoit’s longtime friend and physician, said he had prescribed testosterone to Benoit because he suffered from low amounts of the hormone. He said the condition likely originated from previous steroid use. He would not say what, if any, medications he prescribed the day of the meeting. “I’m still very surprised and shocked, especially with his child Daniel involved,” said Astin. “He worshipped his child.”
Delta News 1130 has posted an article revealing that Daniel Benoit suffered from Fragile X syndrome. Pam Winthrope, who was in contact with the wrestler a few years ago, said she might have some insight into the family. She said Benoit’s son had a genetic condition called Fragile X syndrome. Winthrope said she has experienced the condition first hand and knows how it can tear a family apart.
Fragile X syndrome is an inherited mental impairment. Pam’s 12-year-old son has the condition and in an effort to shed light on the syndrome, her husband called Chris Benoit about five years ago. She said, “We talked to him because I was trying to set up a support group in BC and in Canada, we only have a couple of them. My husband was struggling when we got diagnosed with our son, and Chris was struggling with his. They talked for a few minutes and then he said he didn’t want to be a public face for Fragile X, he just wanted to keep it really, really quiet.”
Winthrope said she couldn’t believe the news that Benoit had taken his life along with his wife and 7-year-old son. She added that families can be torn apart by the disease because it’s very difficult to find help and support.
Former professional wrestler Del Wilkes (The Patriot) said athletes use steroids to gain strength and size, which are key to success in the wrestling world. But he warned that the drugs sometimes come with moments of uncontrollable rage. “You can feel it coming on but there’s nothing you can do about it,”
“The next thing you know, a minor argument has gone into a full-fledged rage, when you’ve got your hands around somebody’s neck. You’re in a fight and doing things you wouldn’t normally do.” Wilkes also said the drugs can also cause “tremendous” depression “when guys are coming off steroids after they’ve been on it for a long period of time.”
CNN Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta said Wednesday that it may never be known whether the deaths were linked to steroids or so-called roid-rage. “The drugs said to be found in the home are a synthetic form of testosterone,” Gupta said. “A lot of people use it to build muscle mass, but there are longstanding known relationships between the steroids and roid rage. It could lead to psychosis and anti-social behavior and depression.”
An official who is part of the investigation told CNN that Benoit’s name was on receipts that indicated he had purchased shipments of anabolic steroids and human growth hormones from Signature Pharmacy, an Orlando, Florida, facility that is at the center of a nationwide investigation into the sale of illegal steroids.
Now we have a wrestler who has used steriods talking about uncontrollable rage and finding yourself with your hands around someone’s neck during a minor argument. Wilkes also mentions the depression associated with coming off steroids. As more of this information comes out, the more the pieces are starting to fit together. It will be interesting to see what the toxicology results say. Coupled with the WWE’s defensive distancing from Benoit, it looks like the WWE Wellness Program isn’t all it’s supposed to be.
WSB-TV Channel 2’s Tom Jones reports an empty bottle of wine was found at the feet of Chris Benoit. This certainly gives an explination to why Benoit sounded groggy when speaking with a co-worker on Saturday. But could Benoit have killed his family in a drunken rage coupled with the paranoia brought on by his alleged steriod use? What about the prescription drugs found with the steroids in the Benoit house? What kind of drugs were they . . . painkillers, anti-depressants? We don’t know at this time. Could Benoit have drank a bottle of wine with his prescription medications leading to a psychotic killing spree?
Debra Williams, the ex wife of Stone Cold Steve Austin, was interviewed by Fox News Colorado regarding the Benoit Family tragedy and says if she had spoken out sooner about the abuse she alleges she suffered at the hands of Austin she may have been able to save Nancy and Daniel Benoit. Williams says in the interview that Austin used steroids during their marriage and says, “He did them, I say him do them!”. She lashed out at WWE and said, “The domestic and drug abuse is out of hand in the WWE and something needs to be done about it.”
Williams says a gag order she signed as part of a settlement with Austin prevented her from speaking up earlier and says, “If only I had spoken up sooner, maybe Nancy and her little boy would be alive today… that’s why I’m going public now, something has to change!”
Former professional wrestler Lex Luger who lives in the Metro Atlanta area told 11Alive News Wednesday that he is shocked and saddened by the death of Chris Benoit. Benoit and Luger were aquainted through wrestling but Luger told 11Alive’s Valerie Hoff that the two had not seen each other in some time.
Luger said alcohol and drugs, including steroids, wreaked havoc on his own life for years before a jail chaplain converted him to Christianity. He said he believes it is possible steroid use played a part in the Benoit family tragedy. “Obviously, they were in his home. Let’s face it. There’s a pretty good chance he was on them and to discount that they didn’t play a role, as far as with his temperament, I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t that possibility,” Luger told 11Alive’s Valerie Hoff.
Luger is now a fitness and nutrition coach in Cobb County.
Scott Ballard, the Fayette County District Attorney, talked to ABC News revealing more details about what happened this past weekend in the Benoit house. “There was a bruise in the small in her back as if a knee was placed there,” Ballard said about Nancy Benoit today on Good Morning America.
Investigators believe Benoit waited until Saturday morning to kill his 7-year-old son, Daniel, in the boy’s bedroom. Ballard told ABC News the boy may have died after being put in a wrestling chokehold. Ballard called the crime scene in the boy’s bedroom “heartbreaking,” with wrestling action figures and a toy championship belt in the room.
The New York Times interviewed Kevin Sullivan about the Benoit murders.
“I’m in the dark,” said Kevin Sullivan, a former professional wrestler who was previously married to Nancy Benoit. “I wrestled with him a lot. I thought he was a great performer.” Mr. Sullivan added, “Last night when I found out, it was shocking, just shocking.”