At 45, Wiggins has been candid about his struggles with mental health before declaring bankruptcy in June 2024. The Team GB hero received support from his ex-wife, Cath, and their children, Ben and Isabella. Bradley previously recounted how he reached out to his son for help during one of his drug binges in 2023. He revealed that Ben and Cath travelled to London and ‘essentially staged an intervention’.
“Between them, they helped me get back on my feet,” he said. “They gave me a reason to live.”
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Cath detailed how she dropped everything to assist Wiggins after Ben informed her that friends had called him expressing concern for his father. Upon arriving at her estranged husband’s London hotel room, she was confronted with a scene littered with drugs.
She stated: “At that point it wasn’t about who was right or wrong, or about divorce. It was just about making sure he was OK.
“There was so much paraphernalia everywhere. He could have died. But thank God he was still there.”
Cath disclosed that Wiggins was awake but in a distressing condition. “By then I was not easily shocked but it was very hard to see,” she said.
“With just one look at him, I knew it was a do or die moment, that if he carried on like this he would be leaving the room in a body bag. I told him that we needed to get help or there was going to be a catastrophe.
“I was torn in two – he’s on his own in a London hotel, my kids are at home in Lancashire. I felt I had to go back and sort the kids out, but then I returned first thing the next morning. I left him a note [while he slept] saying ‘try and make a good choice’.”
Cath fought desperately against Wiggins’ resistance to entering rehab, whilst Ben and Bella remained with him for several days – a decision she credits with saving his life.
“I stayed another day and in the end I arranged a short term rental for him in London, as well as sorting out gym classes and meal delivery to give him some structure. Before I left, I made him promise that he would sort his life out.
“I always think that whatever else I did in life, I did that. He didn’t manage to completely kick the drugs then, but I think he saw some light for the first time.”
It was only last year that Wiggins entered rehab, funded by his friend, disgraced American cyclist Lance Armstrong.