The career of Danny Cipriani (36), a former English rugby prodigy who ultimately never really confirmed himself, was punctuated by affairs revealed by the tabloid press which never left him alone. New episode: The Daily Mail published an article with a photo where he is seen in Los Angeles, where he is spending his vacation after retiring from sports in 2023, smoking what looks like a cannabis cigarette.
The tabloid discusses his former drug addiction problems, having told the Sun eight months ago that he was now “clean”. And the Daily Mail adds: “It is believed he bought the cigarette at a store called Project Cannabis, near his home. Recreational use of cannabis in California is legal.”
The former Wasps and Gloucester fly-half reacted sharply on You won’t exist in the next three years.” And to criticize “the lies that you tell to make the headlines… Without worrying about what you do to humans. Life is beautiful and my heart is full of love. You have driven people to suicide. But continue writing non-stories without worrying about human life, you can continue with me.”
Last February, Danny Cipriani announced his retirement on social networks. The former opening half of the XV de la Rose (16 caps between 2008 and 2018) was one of the captains of London Wasps (who have since gone bankrupt) with whom he won the Champions Cup in 2007 and the Premiership in 2008. “While messaging my agent, I realized I didn’t want to act anymore. It’s a liberating moment. Thank you to all the coaches I’ve had, I’ve taken a lot away from each of you. To all my teammates, I loved playing with you, I know sometimes I could be relentless, but we had a lot of fun,” he then confided.
Between 2011 and the announcement of his retirement, he played for the Melbourne Rebels in Australia, before returning to England and playing for Sale, again for Wasps, then Gloucester and Bath. But Danny Cipriani regularly made the headlines of the “gutter press” because of his stated penchant for partying (he was surprised in a nightclub two days before his first selection with England) and famous women. His relationships with the actress and model Kelly Brook or the TV presenter Caroline Flack had not survived the relentlessness of the tabloids. In 2020, the rugby player admitted to suffering from depression since the age of 22.
