Troubled former swim star Grant Hackett boarded a plane for the United States last night to seek professional treatment for his alleged addiction to the controversial prescription sleeping drug Stilnox.
His decision to seek professional help follows the strange incident at the Crown Casino in Melbourne on the weekend when he was photographed in the foyer dressed with only a singlet around his waist, looking for his four-year-old son Jagger who had gone missing from their room.
Hackett, 33, is separated from his former wife singer Candice Alley and was caring for his twin children during a scheduled parental visit.
The revelation that the gold-medal-winning Olympian is seeking rehabilitation in the US came yesterday after what his father Neville said was a family intervention.
Mr Hackett, a former policeman, told Triple M radio that the family became aware of the problem only recently. “We sought expert advice and we had a meeting with these experts and some of his friends. And we decided to take the action with Grant without him knowing,” Mr Hackett said.
“Grant is currently in transit to seek treatment for a dependency to Stilnox medication,” his manager, Chris White, told a Melbourne newspaper last night.
“His family and friends are enormously proud of his courage in pursuing this course of action.”
Stilnox was the drug at the centre of Hackett’s problems during the final days of his swimming career.
