Jake “The Snake” Roberts is approaching 14 years of sobriety and has reunited with his ex-wife Cheryl, with the couple now doing autograph signings together, Diamond Dallas Page stated on Wrestling Life with Ben Veal.
Page said he spent years worrying about Roberts relapsing but has reached a point where it no longer crosses his mind. “We’re coming up on the 14th year of Jake being sober, and I don’t even think about it anymore,” Page said. “I could have a drink around him or whatever. He don’t care.”
Page said the early years were different. He estimated it took about five years before he stopped worrying. “There’s certain guys, you wonder, ‘God, I hope he doesn’t go back again.’ And I felt like that about Jake for about five years, but now we’re coming up on the 14th year of Jake being sober, and I don’t even think about it anymore,” he said.
“When You’re Really a Man, It’ll Be ‘I Don’t Need Three Beers'”
Page recalled that Roberts used to rationalize his drinking with a specific line that Page eventually challenged. “He really used to say, ‘I’m a man. I can. I deserve three beers. I could have three beers,'” Page said. “And at some point I said, ‘When you’re really a man, it’ll be, I don’t need three beers. I don’t want three beers, because I know what comes after that, and it’s never any good.'”
Roberts’ recovery was the subject of the 2015 documentary The Resurrection of Jake the Snake, which chronicled his time living at DDP’s accountability crib in Atlanta. The documentary showed Roberts at his lowest point and followed his transformation through DDP Yoga and a structured living environment. Page has since helped multiple wrestling legends through similar programs, most recently with the Change or Die series on his YouTube channel.
Jake and Cheryl Roberts Reunited
Page said Roberts and Cheryl are now back together and appearing at fan events as a couple. “Him and Cheryl are back. And anybody who’s an ’80s fan who watched Jake, his gorgeous wife was involved with the storyline with him and Rick Rude. And so now they’re doing signings together, Jake and Cheryl Roberts,” Page said.
Cheryl Roberts was a prominent on-screen presence in the WWF during the late 1980s, most notably in the storyline between Jake and Rick Rude, where Rude pursued Cheryl as part of one of the company’s most memorable feuds of the era. Host Ben Veal noted that wrestling fans have long memories for that kind of storyline. “Wrestling fans have long memories for that kind of stuff,” Veal said.
Page’s Approach to Forgiveness
Page discussed Roberts’ journey as part of a broader conversation about forgiveness and second chances. He said his philosophy has always been to let things go rather than hold grudges.
“I’m easy. I let people go and forgive and forget, because it’s not worth it. Not forgiving someone is like you swallowing poison and expecting the other person to die,” Page said. “I’m much too easy on so many people. There’s certain people I won’t talk to anymore, but I’m not mad. I’m disappointed. But it’s not worth it. And I don’t hold any grudge. I don’t want to be like that. So I give up pretty easy when it comes to forgiving people.”
Page said that mindset was critical to his ability to help Roberts and others through their darkest periods.
Roberts, now 70, continues to make public appearances. His sobriety journey, which began at Page’s accountability crib in 2012, is widely regarded as one of the most remarkable recovery stories in professional wrestling history.
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