By Marta Jary For Daily Mail Australia
09:45 23 May 2023, updated 10:45 23 May 2023
Ben Cousins will soon be back in the spotlight after taking time away to rebuild his life.
The AFL legend has announced he will partake in several speaking engagements on his Such Is Life Tour, which kicks off in July.
The events will be held across Victoria, and will include Geelong, Horsham, Bendigo and Cranbourne, with tickets on sale on Eventbrite.
Promising to tell untold tales from his football career, the tour marks a kind of catharsis for the controversial Brownlow Medallist.
He is also expected to address some of the controversies he’s endured as well as offer an insight into his recovery.
Ben’s dramatic fall from grace was well documented from 2007 as he publicly battled a drug addiction and coped with his failed relationship with Maylea Tinecheff.
He played 238 games and booted 205 goals for the West Coast Eagles, where he won a premiership with the club in 2006.
He was later sacked and copped a one year ban from the AFL for repeated infringements.
In 2021, Susan Backshell, who has acted as a mentor for Cousins since his last stint on jail, told Daily Mail Australia that he remains solely focused on his kids.
Sitting in a cold, cramped jail cell for the sixth time in 13 years, Cousins decided enough was enough after seven months behind bars in 2020.
He told her he wanted to make amends and clean up his life and Backshell gave him an ultimatum: ‘Give it his all, or forget it entirely’.
Since Cousins was released from custody back in December 2020, Backshell said she’s never once questioned his commitment to sobriety and bettering his community.
Backshell said Cousins had his kids of a weekend and always looking for new ways to bond with them.
‘His kids are everything to him, he truly is an amazing dad. He’s phenomenal,’ Backshell said.
Cousins often takes the children outside to explore nature, teaching them how to kayak, ride horses and embrace the great outdoors.
‘They adore him. They’re very sporty too, like him. They’re like little mini-me’s. They’ve got his determination. I see a lot of him in them.’
Cousins won the Brownlow Medal in 2005 and captained the West Coast Eagles from 2001 to 2005, securing the club’s best and fairest awards four out of those season.