Former Premier League star reveals addiction that 'destroyed' relationship with children

View 2 Images

Former Newcastle United and Liverpool midfielder Jonjo Shelvey has opened up on his addiction to sleeping pills. The 33-year-old, who is now at United Arab Emirates side Arabian Falcons, revealed the habit ruined his relationship with his three children.

The addiction started when Shelvey moved to Turkey and signed for Caykur Rizespor in September 2023. He lived on his own in Rize, a small coastal city in the eastern part of the Black Sea Region, leaving his three children and wife behind in England.

Shelvey impressed during his time at Rizespor, making 33 appearances across all competitions, scoring three times. He signed for fellow Turkish side Eyupspor in August 2024 but was released in the first week of January 2025 and moved back to England.

"I went to Turkey for 18 months and lived by myself and it was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life," Shelvey told the Under The Cosh podcast.

"I ended up becoming addicted to sleeping tablets because I'd just got home from training and to pass time. I'd think, 'what am I going to do now?'

"I was in a city that was a Muslim-orientated city. There were like three restaurants. To pass time I'd just end up taking three or four sleeping tablets and I'd pass out until the next morning for training."

Asked why he decided to take the tablets, Shelvey said: "Just to pass the time."

View 2 Images

Former Sunderland and Blackburn forward Chris Brown, who was part of the three-man presenting team, further probed: "And it'd become an addiction. Just an escape?"

Shelvey replied: "Yeah, and then I moved to Istanbul. Istanbul was a bit more vibrant city. You could go out and… But I was there by myself again. So I’m not one to go out by myself. I hate being alone.

"I thought to myself, if I could go one way or the other, I could go and drink myself to pass time. Drink's no good for a footballer. It's not a good tool.

"But I thought instead of drinking I'd carry on with the sleeping tablets. So that would be a way of passing my time.

"Do you know what I mean? So I'm not putting on fat drinking pints in a pub. So I’d go back to my apartment to train, sleeping tablets."

Shelvey then opted to describe his daily schedule, which included having his final meal at around 3pm before going to sleep and waking up at 12am and taking more sleeping pills.

He said: "I’d get home at one, half one. Three o’clock I’d have a bit of food, and that’d be my last meal.

"And then I’d take three or four sleeping tablets and then wake up about 12 o’clock at night, pop three or four more.

"And then wake up for training the next day. To be honest, it destroyed my relationship with my kids. I was never present.

"This is the first time I have spoken about it and I was lucky that my missus is such a good woman that she kicked it out of me."