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Sport Nation
20 minutes from death: NRL star's drug overdose hell
SEN • April 10th, 2025 1:52 pm
Former NSW Blues star Jarrod Mullen has revealed how close he came to dying of a drugs overdose when in the depth of addiction.
In a brave interview with the Daily Telegraph, Mullen says he was 20 minutes from dying after going on a three-day alcohol and drugs “bender” in December 2018.
It was only thanks to his parents, who Mullen said arrived at his house as he was “taking his last breaths”, that he survived the ordeal.
“I was on a big drinking and drug bender at a mate’s house which went from Friday to Sunday,” he said. “I was taking cocaine, I had a problem with it.
“Mum (Leeann) and dad (Steve) texted me to say they were coming to see me to take me out for lunch on the Sunday.
“So I had to try and get the heart-rate down because I was too wired so I took some Xanax and OxyContin to calm me. I went home and all I remember is putting on the TV and then waking up in the ambulance with mum beside me.
“When mum and dad came home and I was choking, grey and pretty much taking my last breaths so they called the ambulance just in time.
“Apparently if mum and dad had turned up 20 minutes later then I was pretty much gone. It was a close call. As I said, I was taking my last breaths. Mum and dad picked me up and dragged me outside and waited for the ambulance.”
Mullen, who played 211 games for the Knights, spent two days in intensive care after the overdose before going to rehab for a month.
He insists he has been clean of drugs and alcohol ever since.
“Six-and-a-half years being sober, brother, I haven’t touched alcohol or drugs, it’s the best thing I have ever done,” Mullen said.
“It’s good to wake up on a Sunday at home and not be at some weirdo’s house. My life was chaos, to be quite honest. It just spiralled out of control.”
But six months after his overdose, Mullen was arrested and charged with intent to supply a prohibited drug after he was found carrying 39 grams of cocaine.
He avoided jail and was handed a two-year community order and 300 hours of community service.
In 2017 Mullen was handed a four-year ban by the NRL after testing positive for steroids. He said it was the reaction to his ban that sent him on a spiral.
“You try to mask things with drugs and alcohol because you don’t want to feel the pain,” he said.
“After the positive drug test, the Knights boys were told they weren’t allowed to talk to me so I was really isolated.
“I couldn’t leave the house without being off my head in some way, whether that was drugs or painkillers.”
