Andrew Gillum, the former Tallahassee Mayor, CNN analyst and Florida Governor runner-up said he entered rehab for alcohol addiction.

In a personal video on his Instagram account, Gillum, 40, said he had numbed himself with alcohol and suppressed the depression he felt as a result of his 2018 election loss. 

“I was perfecting what it meant to wear the mask,” Gillum said. 

In March, Miami Beach police found Gillum in a hotel room in an “inebriated state.” Emergency workers had been called to treat another man suffering from a suspected drug overdose. Gillum was in town for a wedding.

Gillum lost the Governor election by a mere 32,000 votes to Republican candidate Ron DeSantis. At the time of his Miami Beach incident, he was considered a rising star in the Democratic party, but in his video on Monday, Gillum said a lot of his busy work was disingenuous. 

“Don’t be like me, don’t suffer in silence, get access to the help that you need,” Gillum said. “So many of us think that we gotta perpetrate this image of perfection. This image of strength. This image that I’ve got it all together. Nobody has it all together. That’s the big secret.”

Gillum said he has a deep down desire to be a whole, complete and indivisible person. He said the rumors and shame from the Miami Beach incident was overwhelming.

“The shame that I felt from all of that, from the harm that I had caused was tearing me up!” Gillum said.

Police found Gillum in the hotel room with two men — one an alleged male escort, who was treated for a suspected drug overdose. Gillum has denied any methamphetamine use. 

In Monday’s video he thanked his wife and life partner, R. Jai who he called the “epitome of grace.”

RELATED

Letter To Editor: With Love to Andrew Gillum as a Flawed Man & a Christian