Posted by denised in 
No surprise here. Former ESPN baseball analyst Steve Phillips said in an interview with the Today Show’s Matt Lauer on Monday that he knew he was/is a sex addict. Speaking publicly for the first time since leaving Pine Grove Behavioral Health and Addiction Services clinic in Miss., Phillips admitted to “making mistakes” and said he wanted to take ownership of his behavior.
Phillips was fired from ESPN after an affair he was having with a 25 year old ESPN production assistant Brooke Hundley was uncovered. In the interview with Lauer, Phillips said he “couldn’t stop [himself] from doing the things [he] was doing.”
I’m in no position to judge Phillips or either validate or refute his diagnosis of sexual addiction. But I do wonder why in cases like this, where public figures are caught with their pants down, the addictive behavior leads them to have affairs with young, attractive women. Drug addicts, alcoholics and the like pursue their addictions indiscriminately. Have you ever seen a crack house? What’s the deal with younger, often blonder, addictions who sport face candy (Tiger Woods anyone)? And, in the cases where the partner involved in the addictive behavior is a subordinate, does it make it less of a sexual harassment issue because the perpetrator claims he’s an addict? It’s rumored that David Letterman had been having affairs with his staff for years. It’s actually surprising in today’s climate that he didn’t claim to have a sex addiction.
What’s to stop future bosses charged with sexual harassment from claiming that their addictions made them do it? Most companies have policies that prevent them from firing employees due to illness. So what happens when harassers start blaming addiction for their behavior? Something tells me we’ll soon find out.
Source: ESPN
