Pubdate: Tue, 21 May 2002
Source: Winnipeg Sun (CN MB)
Copyright: 2002 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact:  http://www.fyiwinnipeg.com/winsun.shtml
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/503
Author: Michelle Mark

BATTLE WITH DRUGS LOST

Family Says Painkillers Likely Took Wrestler's Life

CALGARY -- Family members feuding over the memory and the remains of Davey 
Boy Smith are able to agree on two things:

He had desperately wanted to turn his life around -- and drugs likely 
killed him.

But while a friend of Smith and his girlfriend Andrea Hart said 
prescription painkillers to mask the pain of training for his planned 
wrestling comeback ultimately ended Smith's life, his ex-wife said that 
addiction was the least of his woes as he fought to be a better husband and 
father.

"Davey was desperately trying to get off drugs and get his life back," said 
Diana Hart, Smith's ex-wife and mother of his two teenagers, Harry and Georgia.

Hart family members said Smith -- who was broke -- was living a nightmare, 
hitting rock bottom before grasping to save himself and his relationship 
with his kids.

"We saw him on Friday before he left and he said he wanted to be closer to 
us and spend more time with us," Georgia said, adding she will always 
fondly remember her dad for his kindness and his lust for life.

'CESSPOOL OF NONSENSE'

Smith died Saturday morning inside his Fairmont, B.C. hotel room as his 
girlfriend Andrea lay beside him.

But Andrea's husband Bruce Hart -- Smith's brother-in-law -- said Smith's 
life was complicated as the victim of a sordid love triangle further 
corrupted by drugs.

"Davey was caught up in a cesspool of nonsense," he said, referring to the 
story of Smith's relationship with his wife as "an unfortunately contrived 
Camelot fairy tale."

Longtime friend of Smith's and former fellow wrestler Ben Bassarab said 
Smith's comeback was meant to be brief and was a last ditch effort to clear 
his reputation, enabling him to retire from the wrestling world with dignity.

"He wanted to show everybody he could still do it and that he wasn't washed 
up," Bassarab said, adding that plight may have eventually killed him.

"He wanted to prove to people he wasn't a drug addict and a loser." Smith, 
who rose to fame as one of the British Bulldogs, fought his last match at 
the Southdale Community Centre in Winnipeg on May 11.

The night before, he wrestled with his teenage son Harry in Brandon. Diana 
also said young Harry plans to continue wrestling in his father's memory, 
motivating him to become one of the best the wrestling world has ever seen.

"Harry has such a gift and Davey was so proud of him," she said. The 
matches were Smith's first in 16 months, after the wrestler was involved in 
a near-fatal motorcycle crash.

Autopsy results from Cranbrook B.C's medical examiner are expected to be 
released today.

Funeral arrangements for Smith have not yet been finalized.
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