The2Count.com is featuring a lengthy interview with Sandra Toffoloni, the sister of Nancy Benoit. Toffoloni talks at length about both her relationship with her sister and her brother-in-law Chris Benoit and when things started to take a turn for the worse in 2007. She feels a mixture of steroids, pain medication and alcohol is what caused the sudden change in behavior in Chris leading to the death of her sister, nephew and Chris committing suicide.
“After Eddie passed away, Chris and Nancy discussed the possibility of Chris leaving the WWE and starting his own wrestling school. As a matter of fact, it had become more than a possibility. A business plan had been developed and merchandise had been designed. However, the WWE was prepared to give Chris a big push and put him into another championship match so Chris began training harder and pushing his body further. Chris did a lot of self-medicating. My brother-in-law made every show, he went to every production meeting, never missed a call, never missed a flight and always drove himself or made travel arrangements.
“Chris wasn’t schizophrenic. Someone with schizophrenia wouldn’t be able to do all that. He had a serious drug problem, used a lot of steroids and was certainly not alone in that at the time. The paranoia was a direct result of the abuse of steroids. The last 2 weeks I spent with Chris, we used to go to the gym and go tanning together. At some point, he began acting weird and I wondered what was wrong with him. He would find 30 different routes to drive to the gym which he never did before. This is not schizophrenia! This was a result of combining steroids with pain medication and, later on, alcohol.
“I had never seen him like this before. The final blow came in mid-June 2007, just a few days before everything happened, when Sherri Martel passed away. That devastated Nancy just as much as Eddie’s death had devastated Chris. I remember my sister telling me ‘I don’t know how much more of this I can take and I don’t know how much more of this Chris can take’.”
To check out the full interview, click here.