Former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum is thanking those who wished him well during his time at a rehabilitation facility.
Gillum’s comments came in a posting on Instagram, along with an 11-minute video. In March, he had announced he was withdrawing from the public eye in order to “seek help, guidance and enter a rehabilitation facility,” People reported.
Gillum, a Democrat, had been found in a Miami Beach hotel room inebriated and with a man suspected of overdosing on crystal meth.
“I know it’s been awhile since we’ve had the opportunity to connect, but as many of you know, I decided to take some time away to work on myself, deal with some issues that I was having,” he said in the video.
“I went away to rehab to focus on my issues with alcoholism. Having grown up in a household where my father battled addiction to alcohol and later died from complications from that deadly addiction, I know well the toll that alcohol can take on not only on an individual, but also on the family.”
He said that if he didn’t want to recycle those same issues on his children.
And Gillum acknowledged he had “totally underestimated” the impact his loss to Ron DeSantis had taken on him in 2018.
"I am thankful to so many of you who have wished me well during this especially challenging time," he wrote on Instagram. "I wanted to provide a personal update on how I have been doing. Take good care of yourselves during this season and I will see you on the other side.”
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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