Ric Flair Admitted in Book to Having Alcoholic Cardiomyopathy

After we posted the story noting that a Ric Flair representative told TMZ that Flair was considering taking legal action against claims made in the Grantland.com article, a number of readers sent in emails pointing out that Flair admitted in his 2004 autobiography to suffering from Alcoholic Cardiomyopathy. Flair wrote,

"Through my many years of partying, I also developed something called "alcoholic cardiomyopathy," a weakening of heart muscles. I first detected that there was something wrong when my heart began skipping beats. I went to a cardiologist friend who told me that when your heart pumps, it expands to a rubber band. But mine was doing it too much. Initially, I thought that steroids might be responsible, but the doctor dismissed this theory. My heart was fluttering from thirty-five years of hitting it hard.

It's the part of the price of being Ric Flair. In exchange for the glory and the good times, I acquired a heart condition, self-esteem issues, and cataracts from tanning beds—and very nearly wrecked my marriage to a great woman. But incredibly, I remained ageless in other ways. And in 2002, at nearly fifty-three years old, I was about to see if I could show a new generation of fans what they missed in the 1970s and 1980s."

The book is titled "Ric Flair: To Be The Man," and you can read the above excerpt and more by CLICKING HERE.