Mike Tyson’s Daughter’s Tragic Death Drove Him to Cocaine

Iron Mike has been a polarizing figure in the sports world for as far back as many can remember. The former heavyweight boxing champion and Brooklyn, New York native famously bit Evander Holyfield’s ear in 1997, once told Lennox Lewis he wanted to eat his children and has allegedly fought a great deal outside of the ring.

Tragedy struck in 2009 when Tyson’s 4-year-old daughter Exodus died.

She was playing on a treadmill in her mother’s home in Phoenix, Arizona, when she accidentally hung herself with a treadmill cord that was handing from the exercise machine. Her 7-year-old brother found her and alerted his mother, who called 911 and began CPR. She was taken to a nearby hospital and placed on life support but was declared dead the day after the tragic accident.

Tyson was in Las Vegas at the time but immediately flew to Arizona upon hearing the news of his little girl.

“The Tyson family would like to extend our deepest and most heartfelt thanks for all your prayers and support, and we ask that we be allowed our privacy at this difficult time,” Tyson said in a statement at the time. “There are no words to describe the tragic loss of our beloved Exodus.”

In one of the most bizarre, tear-filled interviews you’ll see of Mike Tyson, he recounted Exodus’s death to HBO’s “Real Sports.”

When HBO’s Bernie Godlberg asked if Tyson was a changed man following the loss of his baby girl, he offered a pretty shocking response.

The interview then abruptly ended by Tyson asking Goldberg to leave. Tyson could then be seen crying.

“I gotta grow up. It’s tough,” Tyson said. “I gotta be a man and stop crying.”

No, Mike. Even world heavyweight champions are allowed to cry, especially for an incident so devastating and sudden.