Earlier this month, NFL free agent Terrell Owens was rushed to an L.A. hospital due to a possible pill overdose. TMZ reported that Owens' assistant told the dispatcher that the star wide receiver tried to commit suicide.
Owens' publicist Diana Bianchini refuted that account on Thursday, outright denying that he attempted suicide or overdosed on pills and calling any such reports "misleading and not factual."
"Terrell Owens absolutely did not attempt suicide nor did he attempt to overdose on pills on October 6, 2011. Reports released today claiming he did are completely false and were made in relation to a 911 call his assistant made that evening," Bianchini said in a statement. "The facts are that she arrived at his home that evening after he had already taken a sleeping aid to fall asleep. He was unresponsive because of this."
She went on to say that Owens' assistant was not aware that he had taken a sleeping aid when the 911 call was placed.
In 2006, during his tenure with the Dallas Cowboys, Owens was hospitalized and reports were released saying that he tried to commit suicide by overdosing on pain medication.
Owens denied those reports, claiming that his hospitalization was the result of an allergic reaction. "It's very unfortunate for the reports to go from an allergic reaction to a definite suicide attempt," he said at a press conference before his then-publicist said the infamous line: "Terrell has 25 million reasons why he should be alive."
The 37-year-old, who underwent surgery on a torn ACL back in April, told Stephen A. Smith a day before he was rushed to the hospital that he plans to play this season. He also said that he would be ready to go "in a month or less."
True to his word, the 15-year veteran held a personal workout that his agent Drew Rosenhaus put together earlier this week. However, no NFL scouts showed up and Hall of Famer Jerry Rice said that Owens didn't look like he was in football shape.
Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.