WWE icon Jake "The Snake" Roberts has detailed how his life spiraled so wildly with drink and drugs that he tried to commit suicide several times.
The former wrestler, 67, survived one attempt because he vomited all over himself in his sleep.
Roberts peels back his disturbing life of highs and lows fuelled by a sickening and disturbing childhood where he was sexually abused by his stepmother.
The beloved fighter said his early life was traumatized by his unloving and abusive 7ft tall father, a part-time wrestler.
Damaged Roberts made it his mission to win his dad's approval by becoming a wrestler after a disastrous first rumble.
However, his quest for paternal approval ultimately sent him on a journey of self-destruction and devastation with three failed marriages.
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Roberts, often tearful at times, delves into his battle for sanity and sobriety in the upcoming A&E series "Biography: WWE Legends."
Roberts said: "I've tried to commit suicide a handful of times.
"The really ugly times were with cocaine, begging to die, just continually hitting that pipe.
“It would get so hot that I'd burn my lips. I hit the pipe and curse the devil.
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"Hit the pipe and curse God. Hit the pipe. Jesus, I thank you sweet Jesus for not letting me die."
He confessed his prime focus daily was: "How much coke do I have?"
His daughter Brandy Woodson recalled how her father smoked crack for the entire car trip on her way to university from Texas to Georgia in 1993.
While Roberts describes how his life derailed as his commitment to wrestling grew.
This led to divorce and problematic relations with his eight kids.
Roberts, whose Snake nickname was given to him by WWE boss Vince McMahon, reveled in his persona as one of the most hated wrestlers in the world.
But the reality of his personal life was clouded by fame, excessive alcohol, and drug use.
Roberts continued: "There’s a price you pay for being a wrestler.
"I thought I was, I'm this big star now. I'm going to make my kids happy and everybody's going to love me and everything's going to be fine. How foolish are we?
"Idle hands, the devil's playground. I spun out of control for the next 15, 20 years."
Roberts’s mental health, emotional wellness, and upbringing were destroyed in Florida thanks to his 7ft tall wrestler father Grizzly “Tiny” Smith.
Roberts alleges Grizzly was a pedophile, the "worst kind of monster”, whose "victims were little girls, including his own daughter."
Roberts was conceived by Grizzly raping the 12-year-old daughter of a woman he dated - Robert’s grandmother.
While Roberts’ stepmother Marsha allegedly abused him aged 12.
He said: "I started being molested by her. We'd have sex and then afterward she'd beat my a**, man.
"She'd beat me with clothes hangers, and hairbrushes.
"[She'd say] ‘If your father finds out about this, he's going to kill you.' And I was scared to death of my dad would kill me."
"I dug a hole, I built a wall and I learned to lie."
Jake's half-sister Robin Smith - the daughter of Roberts' step-mom Marsha - also opened up on the claims.
Smith, herself an ex-WWE wrestler, said: "There was only about a five-year difference between my mother and Jake.
"If something happened there I have to think it would have had to have been at the request of Jake's dad - my father.
"I cannot see my mother being an abuser, but it is very likely that is something father might have wanted."
Roberts loathed wrestling but decided to "make his father proud" by wrestling in front of him in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
"He was a short little dumpy guy, man. And he humiliated the p*** out of me, man. It was horrible.
"My father goes: ‘I am ashamed of you. You're gutless and you'll never amount to a damn thing.’
"I remember praying to the devil: 'You help me become the biggest, baddest wrestler devil, and I'll do anything you want.
"I want to be bigger and better than he is. I want to make him eat those words."
The 6ft5 Roberts "bit by bit" learned the craft over several years on touring shows, before McMahon suggested the Snake nickname when a python named Damien joined him ringside.
His fear of snakes subsided after "seeing that many zeroes" on the paycheck.
From 1986 for six years his provocative speeches and actions made him WWE’s biggest villain and household name.
However, he enjoyed the party life after hours.
After failed rehabs and interventions, wrestler friend Diamond Dallas Page (DDP) moved him into his Texas home in 2012.
He continued: "I hated myself. Truly hated myself. I took a mirror down at my house cause I couldn't stand to look at [my reflection].
"I think DDP Yoga is probably what saved my life. ‘Cause I couldn't get around anymore. I couldn't get up, I couldn't get down."
Roberts, who was inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame in 2014, has reconnected with only half of his children.
Downcast, he added: “I always swore that I would never ever treat my children the way my father treated me.
"I swore that up and down a million times. And what did I do? I wasn't there for my children either."
The two icons spoke during A&E’s WWE Rivals hosted by actor and ex-WWE writer Freddie Prinze Jr.
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Season two begins with examining Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant, and will explore other rivalries including Stevie Austin vs. Bret Hart, Undertaker vs. Mankind, The Rock vs. John Cena, Triple H vs. Batista, Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns, and Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels.
The series returns Sunday, February 19 at 8pm ET/PT, while WWE on A&E returns with season three of "Biography: WWE Legend."