Ted Williams, the homeless man whose "golden voice" made him an instant celebrity, has reportedly left a rehab facility in Texas less than two weeks after checking in.
Williams left Origins Recovery Center in South Padre Island and headed for the airport, TMZ said Monday, adding that Williams' girlfriend is in rehab in Costa Mesa. No details were given about where Williams was headed. On the way to rehab, with a physician as a chaperone, he'd swung through Ohio to visit with his grandchildren.
"Ted was given the chance to voluntarily enter a drug rehabilitation facility in order to help him in dealing with his dependency on drugs and alcohol," Dr. Phil McGraw said in a statement. "In that it is voluntary, the decision to remain in treatment is Ted's to make."
McGraw hooked Williams up with Origins after the Ohio man went from homeless to Hollywood in a matter of days. A reporter's roadside video of Williams went viral, earning him the spotlight, a family reunion and a few job offers. The fairy tale took a turn for the worse when Williams and one of his daughters got into a fight that wound up with both of them at the police department, chilling out. No charges were filed, and Williams headed to rehab shortly after taping episodes of "Dr. Phil."
Williams entered Origins on Jan. 13, TMZ said; his expenses -- reportedly $49,000 for three months -- were covered, though the deep pockets were not Dr. Phil's. His departure apparently was against doctor's orders.
"We certainly hope that he continues his commitment to sobriety, and we will continue to help and support him in any way that we can," McGraw said Monday, according to CNN.
Talk show host Chelsea Handler wrote Tuesday that she was "not surprised."
"While there are certainly a few people who have a run of bad luck and fall on hard times, for the most part, people are homeless for a reason," Handler said on her blog. "You don't wake up one day and find yourself living under a freeway unless you've made some pretty bad decisions in your life.
"Just because someone has a nice voice doesn't mean that they should automatically be able to keep their [act] together."
Posted By: DAVID JOHNSON
Saturday, January 29th 2011 at 10:12AM
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