Belgium-born Edouard “Papa Spyk” Gheur promotes himself as a former professional rugby player; competitive bodybuilder; an international model with Diesel and Calvin Klein; and a Hollywood actor and stuntman. His acting roles included “B movies” such as American Ninja, Tropical Heat and Red Scorpion. Nowadays, Gheur is most commonly known as the guy telling everyone that steroids made his heart explode.
Bodybuilder Ed Gheur on steroids
During the 1990s, Gheur was also a cocaine addict with a $450 (£300) a day habit for 8 long years. This little fact was conveniently overlooked as Gheur recently made the rounds of television talk shows and tabloid newspaper interviews to recount the story of his (allegedly steroid-induced) heart explosion that occurred when he was 33-years old.
Gheur’s story was used by tabloid newspapers as a cautionary tale to warn people of the dangers of anabolic steroids in the more sensationalistic manner possible. With headlines such as “Steroids were great… until my heart exploded” and “Former bodybuilder whose heart exploded after 15 years of steroid overuse says it’s a ‘miracle’ he’s alive”, Gheur has become an anti-steroid poster boy.
Ed Gheur almost died from cocaine abuse
Gheur described a cardiac complication that sounds a lot like aortic dissection. As Gheur tells the story, his “aorta… had split in half”. However, Gheur seems to prefer saying that his “heart literally exploded”.
“Everything changed one evening in 1997 when I was cooking dinner for my wife and my heart literally exploded – my aorta, the largest blood vessel in the body, had split in half from my heart all the way to my legs.”
Gheur had used anabolic steroids for 15 years and, more importantly, had been addicted to cocaine for 8 years prior to the life-changing medical catastrophe. Gheur has chosen to blame steroids. But are steroids really to blame?
The cardiovascular complications of cocaine are known to include aortic dissection. Meanwhile, there is no established association between anabolic steroids and aortic dissection. However, the lack of empirical evidence doesn’t really matter to the anti-steroid crusaders.
Dr Ranj Singh with Ed Gheur on ITV’s This Morning
Dr Ranj Singh appeared on ITV’s This Morning alongside Gheur on November 23, 2015. Singh said that Gheur’s story was a prime example of the dangers associated with anabolic steroids. Singh didn’t say anything about cocaine. Either Singh didn’t know about Gheur’s cocaine abuse or it simply didn’t fit into his anti-steroid narrative.
“Spyk’s story illustrates just how bad things can get,” Singh said. “There is a rise in ‘gym-orexia’ where young guys wants to bulk up and be more muscly, they might do that by taking sports supplements, exercising excessively and sometimes taking steroids but they are dangerous. They are a class C drug.”
Gheur just seemed happy to be on television once again and found no need to remind Singh of his years as a cocaine addict preceding the aortic dissection.
Gheur was a lot more forthcoming about his cocaine use in previous years. Back in 2012, Gheur wrote an autobiography entitled “A Naughty Thing Called Life” that openly discussed his cocaine use in addition to his steroid use. Ghheur was upfront about his cocaine addiction during publicity appearances to promote his autobiography as well.
“After I retired from rugby, I became a model and stuntman in the US. I soon became addicted to cocaine, which cost £300 ($450) a day over eight years,” Gheur said in 2012.
In a 500-word account given to The Sun (UK) this month, Gheur had ample opportunity to disclose his excessive cocaine use and the role it likely played in his heart attack. Yet, Gheur only chose to warn people about the menace of steroids.
“All I want to do now is share my story so other people don’t do what I did – nobody needs steroids.”
Nobody needs anti-steroid crusaders who ignore important facts that are inconvenient to their agenda either.
It is with a heavy heart that we said, ” Rest In Peace” to Eddy yesterday. No matter what anyone says, Eddy was an inspiration to many and will be missed!
Considering the fact that we were room mates in the early eighties for nearly two years, I feel that I am qualified to in the late Edouard Pappa Spyk Gheur’s defense. If I can tell you anything at all about Eddie, it is this, he was honest to a fault. Especially when considering his personal collection of the same. If there was in fact some grand plan to avoid the anabolic topic? I can assure you that it was NOT Eddie’s idea to do so.
I’m sitting here shaking my damned head over the reference that there is no proof that anabolic steroids affect the cardiovascular system in derogatory fashion. The roids send the bad cholesterol levels through the roof. Excessive and long sustained use in conjunction with a blood pressure booster like cocaine? Hey don’t kid yourself here! Both vices took their toll. Sharing the culprits role in equal parts. To make efforts to convince yourself otherwise is a fools endeavor. Tragedy came calling yesterday. Making this day one spent in reflection.
RIP Eddie Papa Spyk Gheur.