Basil....
Basil Zempilas has defended his recent interview with Ben Cousins after the former AFL champion’s latest arrest.
Cousins is facing 15 charges including aggravated stalking and breaching a restraining order after being arrested again in Perth on Wednesday.
“He hadn’t done an interview in the days and weeks leading up to the last times he was arrested and sent to jail though, had he?” Zempilas said on 6PR Perth radio on Thursday morning.
“So if people are trying to say that he’s ended up where he’s ended up because he did an interview, well one and one does not equal two.”
But when asked if he thought the interview helped Cousins, Zempilas said: “It hasn’t if today, what was alleged is proven to be the case.
“It was worth a shot, it was worth a shot. Ben’s life wasn’t heading into a rosy direction prior to us doing all of this ... it wasn’t heading into a good spot anyway.
“So if sitting down, talking about some of those things helped be the trigger, it was worth a shot.”
“It was clear and we didn’t make any secret of this, it was clear that at times during a normal week for Ben, he struggled to keep it together,” Zempilas said.
“There were times when his battle with addiction would get the better of him and would bubble over and I guess that’s happened yesterday.
“The specific times that I was interviewing him, he seemed pretty good. We were with him for about the course of a week. There were two long sessions I did and in those two long sessions I thought he was good, I thought he had it together.
“But you also saw in the program times when he wasn’t with me but the producers were with him filming other bits and pieces and he didn’t appear to be as together, and that was a normal week for Ben, unfortunately. Periods of having it together and periods of not having it together.”
PAFC. Forever.
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