Olympian Grant Hackett has flown to Los Angeles to check in to rehab for sleeping pill abuse. Whilst the swimmer has told US reporters that he is there for rest and relaxation, his father has spoken out, saying that Grant is in ‘a little bit of denial’.
These reports come following news that Grant Hackett was spotted wandering around the Crown casino semi-naked in the early hours of Saturday. Hackett initially said that he was looking for his four year old son Jagger, after the child managed to escape from the hotel room. However witness statements suggest that this isn’t the whole story.
A patron of the Crown casino alerted security after seeing Grant Hackett partially nude and disoriented, walking with his child. Later in the evening he was photographer in the casino foyer wearing just a singlet around his waist.
Hacket said that he rushed to the foyer wearing a singlet after noticing that his son was missing. However a hotel guest has said that he spotted Hackett in a near naked state in the hotel complex hours before he was spotted in the foyer wearing the singlet.
Hackett lives in Sydney, but regularly stays at the Crown Casino when he flies to Melbourne to visit his four-year-old twins, his children with ex-wife Candice Alley.
Grant Hackett’s manager has made a statement, saying, ‘Grant is currently in transit to seek treatment for a dependency to Stilnox medication.’
‘His family and friends are enormously proud of his courage in pursuing this course of action.’