The former mayor of Tallahassee Andrew Gillum is speaking out about the hotel scandal that demolished his 2020 political aspirations.
Kicking off the second season of her talk show, The Tamron Hall Show, the in-depth interview between Hall and Gillum sheds light on the incident that left the young husband and father of three unconscious in a seedy Miami Beach motel with bags of crystal meth on the scene. Gillum was found in this state alongside two other men, one of which who overdosed and been identified as a gay male escort who claimed that he and Gillum were friends.
While many debunked the photos that were being posted online were of the former gubernatorial hopeful, Gillum reveals that in real life he was in a bad space dealing with the devastating loss. Adding that alcoholism “runs in his family”, Gillum states that after he lost the gubernatorial race in 2018 he started to struggle with his drinking, solidifying his decision to head to rehab.
“Since my race for governor ended, I fell into a depression that has led to alcohol abuse,” Gillum said in a statement. “I witnessed my father suffer from alcoholism and I know the damaging effects it can have when untreated.”
After completing rehab and getting himself back on track, Gillum and his wife Jai sat down with Hall to speak on the controversy that engulfed their family. As shown in an exclusive sneak peek obtained by PEOPLE, Gillum shared that things had become so tough mentally, in regards to the controversy surrounding the hotel incident, that he came to the decision to almost end his own life.
“The truth is that, Tamron, everyone believes the absolute worst about that day,” Gillum said. “At this stage, I don’t have anything else to have to conceal. I literally got broken down to my most bare place; to the place where I wasn’t even sure that I wanted to live, not because of what I had done but because of everything that was being said about me.”
Gillum and his wife also talked about the strain the scandal caused on their relationship, with Gillum revealing that his depression had become so severe that he found himself “crying every day.”
Although the couple addresses the scandal, they are also set to talk about his rehabilitation experience and what the couple has planned next.
Portions of the The Tamron Hall Show‘s Season 2 premiere with Andrew and Jai Gillum can be viewed below.
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