作为体育偶像和商业成功人士，赫歇尔·沃克(Herschel Walker)拥有共和党人希望将他推向美国参议院的背景，他的存在很可能会打破严重分裂的众议院的权力平衡。
但沃克的政治野心也引发了对他记录的另一面的审视:家庭暴力、身体威胁和跟踪的指控。沃克否认了其中一些指控。其他人他声称不记得了——这是他被诊断为分离性身份障碍(dissociative identity disorder，简称D.I.D .)的副产品，这是一种复杂的精神健康状况，以一些严重的潜在衰弱症状为特征。
沃克得到了前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)的招募和支持，他是他的长期朋友和导师，预计他将在下周的共和党初选中以大幅优势获胜。然而，一些共和党人担心，如果沃克赢得共和党提名，这些指控可能会在11月份赶上他——届时他可能会面对强大的民主党现任参议员拉斐尔·沃诺克(Raphael Warnock)——特别是如果他现在不能充分回答这些问题的话。
“如果沃克解决了他过去的那些问题，他将有更好的机会赢得大选，”佐治亚州共和党副州长杰夫·邓肯(Geoff Duncan)在初选中没有支持任何候选人，他告诉美国广播公司新闻的“晚间热线”“如果他不这样做，那么我认为，当我们进入11月的选举时，这将是格鲁吉亚艰难的一天，不幸的是，我们将派出另一名民主党人代表我们担任美国参议员。”
本·格雷/美联社，档案
参议院候选人赫歇尔·沃克在佐治亚州佩里的拯救美国集会上发言。，2021年10月27日。
沃克坚持说，他已经完全康复，并对过去的任何越轨行为负责，在回答美国广播公司新闻的问题时，他的竞选团队提到了他2008年的回忆录《挣脱》(Breaking Free)，其中他透露了自己的诊断结果，还提到了2008年接受美国广播公司新闻频道(ABC News)的鲍勃·伍德拉夫(Bob Woodruff)采访时，他讨论了这对他婚姻的影响。
请在周二晚上收看美国广播公司的《晚间新闻》,收听关于赫歇尔·沃克的特别报道。
“这显然是在选举前(八天)进行的一项政治宣传工作，选举是由赫歇尔的主要对手策划的，他们未能得到任何形式的支持。选民会看穿的。赫歇尔在14年前与鲍勃·伍德拉夫详细讨论了这些问题——他甚至写了一本书，”沃克竞选活动的发言人马洛里·布朗特告诉美国广播公司新闻。“那些赞扬他勇气的记者现在开始诋毁他，因为他是共和党人。这是可耻的，也是好人不去竞选公职的原因。”
但在他的书中，沃克并没有提到关于他行为的几项指控——其中一些在警方记录中有记载。例如，沃克没有写关于他曾经用枪指着前妻的头的指控。他也没有提到2002年他跟踪一名前达拉斯牛仔队啦啦队员的指控。这本书出版后，一名声称与沃克有长期关系的女子指控他跟踪并威胁她。
他的批评者认为，他还没有解决所有令人不安的指控。沃克没有参加任何一场初选辩论，他的对手，最著名的是佐治亚州农业专员加里·布莱克，要求对他的缺席做出解释。
“乔治亚有权知道细节，”布莱克告诉美国广播公司新闻的“晚间热线”“有一种转移、推迟、逃避、隐藏、扭曲模式。在美国参议院任职是不可接受的。在我看来，我认为大多数格鲁吉亚人都会同意。”
令人惊叹的采访
沃克在1997年结束了他辉煌的足球生涯，赢得了海斯曼杯和十多年的NFL生涯。在佐治亚州，他在那里上高中和大学，他是一个偶像——被广泛认为是该州有史以来最伟大的大学足球运动员之一。
1984年，新泽西将军队及其夸夸其谈的老板唐纳德·川普在新贵USFL选秀中以第一顺位选中了沃克。这是沃克最重要的关系之一的开始。在随后的几十年里，沃克作为选手出现在特朗普主持的电视真人秀节目“名人学徒”中，后来担任特朗普总统体育、健身和营养委员会的联合主席。沃克还称赞特朗普帮助他在退役后在家禽业和其他商业企业中度过了一个利润丰厚的职业生涯。
但据他的回忆录《挣脱》(Breaking Free)称，退役后不久，沃克的心理健康和16年的婚姻恶化。他在2008年接受“夜线”采访时讨论了这本书，告诉ABC新闻，他的许多挣扎都源于分离性身份障碍。
这位曾经令人生畏的跑锋声称，他的精神分裂成了多达12个交替人格，或“改变”，他承认经历了暴力冲动和明显的记忆空白。
沃克在2008年对伍德拉夫说:“不同的个性可以为你做不同的事情。”。“我曾经告诉过某人，你不想要那个踢足球的赫歇尔，你不想要那个做生意的赫歇尔来照看你的孩子。你想要一个不同的人。当我参加比赛时，我完全是另一个人。”
在他的回忆录中，沃克描述了2001年的一件事，当时他对一个迟到给他送车的人“非常生气”，以至于沃克沉浸在“看到小小的入口伤口和脑组织及血液的喷射——就像7月4日的烟花——在他身后爆炸——所带来的发自内心的快乐中。”
沃克写道，“怀着谋杀的想法，他开上了自己的奔驰车——他在杂物箱里放了一把贝雷塔手枪——去找送货员。但他很快发现了“微笑”。“耶稣爱你”的贴纸，他写道，然后回家。
但沃克的前妻辛迪·格罗斯曼提供了沃克退役后生活中最悲惨的一幕，她告诉ABC新闻，沃克曾用武器威胁她。
2008年，格罗斯曼告诉伍德拉夫，“他拿了一把枪，对着我的太阳穴。”。
“把枪对着你的太阳穴，”伍德拉夫回答，“他说什么?”
“我要打爆你的头，”格罗斯曼说。
沃克当时告诉美国广播公司新闻，他不记得格罗斯曼描述的事件。他没有否认，承认自己“很可能做了这件事”，但他断言，记忆中的空白(这是抑郁症的一个典型症状)让他无法解决这个问题。
“你不记得类似的事情是因为你认为那是另一个改变，”伍德拉夫在2008年问沃克，“还是你想摆脱不得不谈论它?”
“不，不，不，不，”沃克坚持道。“我说的是其他一切。如果我能记起来，我就说说。”
然而，对格罗斯曼来说，那次令人不寒而栗的经历仍清晰地留在她的脑海中。
“[沃克]说他不记得很多这些细节，”伍德拉夫在2008年告诉格罗斯曼。
“他可能不会，”格罗斯曼回答道。“但我当然知道。”
一些观察家认为，沃克的诊断为推卸责任提供了一个方便的机制。
“如果你用枪指着某人，这是一个很好的借口，”最近退休的亚特兰大宪法杂志政治编辑吉姆·加洛威说告诉华盛顿邮报。“‘那不是我;“是别人，”"
沃克和格罗斯曼于2002年离婚，格罗斯曼于2005年申请并获得了针对沃克的限制令。与这些诉讼相关的法庭记录包含了其他指控，即沃克对格罗斯曼和她当时的男友进行了其他暴力威胁。
沃克在2005年接受警方采访时否认了这些指控，警方报告指出，他“非常冷静，但对(这些声明)感到惊讶”，并表示有人“对他提出指控，以帮助解决未来的儿童监护问题。”沃克的竞选团队没有回应关于该事件的问题。
格罗斯曼没有回应记者对这篇报道的多次置评请求。沃克的盟友指出，她参加了几次支持沃克病情的采访，这一事实证明这对夫妇仍然关系友好。
但美国广播公司新闻和其他人获得的警方报告显示，格罗斯曼不是唯一一个对沃克威胁行为提出指控的女性。
2002年，一名前达拉斯牛仔队啦啦队员告诉警方，她认为沃克潜伏在她家外面，一年前，沃克“威胁过她”，并“监视着她的房子”。这位前啦啦队长拒绝对此事发表评论。她在2002年告诉警方，她不希望警察追捕沃克，因为害怕“使问题变得更糟。”
2012年，自称与这位前足球明星分分合合近20年的麦卡·迪恩(Myka Dean)告诉警方，沃克在试图与他分手后“失去了理智”，她说他威胁说“坐在她的公寓外面，当她出来时，就打爆她的头。”迪恩于2019年去世，但在沃克竞选团队向美国广播公司新闻提供的一份声明中，迪恩的母亲表示，家人从未意识到女儿的指控，他们“为赫歇尔·沃克成为的男人感到非常自豪。我们爱他，为他祈祷，希望我们住在佐治亚州，这样我们就可以投票选举他进入美国参议院。”迪安的母亲和继父也在沃克的公司复兴人公司的董事会任职。
从未被指控犯罪的沃克否认了这两项指控，2021年12月告诉Axios“人们不能只是编造、补充和说一些不真实的事情。他们想让我讲述他们编造的事情。”
复杂的情况
解离性身份障碍，以前被称为多重人格障碍，是一种罕见的精神疾病，沃克曾表示，他从童年起就一直与之斗争:“我只是不知道这是什么，”沃克在2008年告诉美国广播公司新闻。
沃克最初是由杰瑞·蒙伽兹医生诊断和治疗的，德克萨斯州贝德福德市的特许职业顾问拥有咨询教育学博士学位。芒格泽为沃克的回忆录写了前言，沃克在前言中称他是“我最好的朋友之一，可能是最重要的”，因为他已经成为沃克康复叙事的核心。
但是Mungadze多年来对有争议的或未经证实的心理学理论和治疗方法的接受因为对治疗提出了质疑沃克可能收到了。2008年，沃克写道，Mungadze“在我的康复过程中发挥了重要作用”，其中既包括在南加州一家医院的门诊治疗，也包括显然是Mungadze自己制定的协议。
“杰里医生描述了他的程序，并建议对我从未真正理解的部分进行治疗，”沃克写道。“他说他的治疗将集中于整个人，而不是我创造的人格的各个部分。他向我保证，根据他开发的途径和方法，是有可能实现情绪稳定的。”
蒙加泽没有回应记者的多次置评请求，沃克的竞选团队也没有回应有关候选人所受待遇的性质和程度的问题。
沃克在2021年12月告诉Axios，他认为自己对格罗斯曼的行为“负有责任”，并表示他已经从之前导致他走上暴力道路的障碍中接近完全康复。
“[我]现在比99%的美国人都要好，”他说。“就像我摔断了腿一样;我打了石膏。痊愈了。”
但根据一位专家的说法，从注意力缺陷障碍中康复并不像沃克似乎暗示的那样简单，它通常需要长期治疗来控制可能导致“工作和社会功能障碍”的症状。
埃默里大学(Emory University)精神病学和放射学教授j·道格拉斯·布伦内尔(j . Douglas Wilson)博士专门治疗与严重创伤相关的疾病，他警告说，他不能肯定地谈论沃克的病情，因为他没有亲自治疗过他，但他说，大多数患者的目标将是“更多地管理症状，在某些情况下，这可能是最终的人格整合。”
“根据我的经验，这种恢复是不典型的，”布伦内尔在谈到沃克声称他已经完全痊愈时说。"这种治疗是长期的，所以没有速效药。"
沃克的竞选团队没有回应有关他目前康复状况或他是否仍在接受治疗以控制病情的问题，让选民们去分析沃克过去的声明。
沃克在2008年接受美国广播公司采访时说:“很多人可能都有这个问题，但他们太害羞或太害怕了，不敢站出来说些什么。”。“我说我不感到羞耻，因为伙计们，我也是人。我不是什么特别的人。我只是赫歇尔。”
佐治亚州的共和党人将很快决定这对他们来说是否足够。
In Georgia Senate race, Herschel Walker navigates allegations of past violent behavior
An athletic icon and business success, Herschel Walker has the type of background that Republicans hope will propel him to the U.S. Senate, where his presence could very well tip the balance of power in the deeply divided chamber.
But Walker’s political ambitions have also revived scrutiny of another side of his record: allegations of domestic violence, physical threats and stalking. Walker has denied some of those accusations. Others he claims not to remember – a byproduct of his diagnosis with dissociative identity disorder, or D.I.D., a complex mental health condition characterized by some severe and potentially debilitating symptoms.
Recruited and endorsed by former President Donald Trump, his longtime friend and mentor, Walker is expected to win next week’s Republican primary by a substantial margin. Some Republicans fear, however, that if Walker earns the GOP nomination, these claims could catch up with him come November – when he would likely face formidable Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock – particularly if he fails to adequately answer for them now.
“[Walker] will have a better shot to win the general [election] if he addresses those issues that are out there from his past,” Georgia’s Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who has not endorsed any candidate in the primary, told ABC News’ “Nightline.” “If he doesn't, then I think it's going to be a tough day in Georgia when we get to the November election, and we're going to send, unfortunately, another Democrat to represent us as a U.S. senator.”
Walker has insisted that he has made a full recovery and taken responsibility for any past transgressions, and in response to questions from ABC News, his campaign referred to his 2008 memoir, “Breaking Free,” in which he revealed his diagnosis, and a 2008 interview with ABC News’ Bob Woodruff, in which he discussed its effects on his marriage.
Watch “Nightline” on ABC on Tuesday night for a special report on Herschel Walker.
“This is an obvious political hit job [eight] days before an election orchestrated by Herschel’s primary opponents who are failing to get any sort of traction. Voters will see through it. Herschel addressed these issues in detail with Bob Woodruff 14 years ago — he even wrote a book about it,” Mallory Blount, a spokesperson for the Walker campaign, told ABC News. “The same reporters who praised him for his courage are now trashing him because he is a Republican. It is shameful and is why good people don’t run for office.”
But in his book, Walker does not address several claims about his behavior – some of which are documented in police records. Walker did not write, for example, about allegations that he once held a gun to his ex-wife’s head. Nor does he address a claim made in 2002 that he stalked a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. After the book was published, a woman claiming to have had a long-term relationship with Walker accused him of stalking and threatening her as well.
His critics have contended that he has yet to address the full scope of troubling allegations. Walker did not participate in any of the primary debates, and his opponents, most notably Georgia Agricultural Commissioner Gary Black, have demanded an explanation in his absence.
“Georgia deserves to know the details,” Black told ABC News’ “Nightline.” “There's a pattern of deflect, defer, run, hide, twist. It's unacceptable for service in the United States Senate. In my opinion, I think most Georgians are going to agree.”
A stunning interview
Walker ended a decorated football career in 1997, with a Heisman Trophy and more than a decade in the NFL to show for it. In Georgia, where he attended high school and college, he is an icon – widely considered one of the greatest college football players to ever hail from the state.
In 1984, the New Jersey Generals and its bombastic owner, Donald Trump, selected Walker with the first pick of the upstart USFL draft. It was the beginning of one of Walker’s most consequential relationships. In the ensuing decades, Walker has appeared as a contestant on the Trump-hosted reality television show, “Celebrity Apprentice,” and later served as co-chair of President Trump’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition. Walker has also credited Trump with helping him navigate a lucrative post-football career in the poultry industry and other business enterprises.
But shortly after retiring from the game, according to his memoir, “Breaking Free,” Walker’s mental health and 16-year marriage deteriorated. He discussed the book in a 2008 interview with “Nightline,” telling ABC News that many of his struggles stemmed from dissociative identity disorder.
The once fearsome running back claimed that his psyche had fractured into as many as 12 alternate personalities, or “alters,” and he admitted to experiencing both violent urges and significant gaps in memory.
“It's just personalities that can do different things for you,” Walker told Woodruff in 2008. “I told somebody once, you don't want the Herschel that played football, you don't want the Herschel that do business babysitting your child. You want a different person. When I'm competing, I'm a totally different person.”
In his memoir, Walker described one incident, from 2001, in which he became “so angry” with someone who arrived late to deliver him a car that Walker became consumed with “the visceral enjoyment I’d get from seeing the small entry wound and the spray of brain tissue and blood — like a Fourth of July firework — exploding behind him.”
“With murder in his heart and mind,” Walker wrote, he got behind the wheel of his Mercedes – where he kept a Beretta pistol in the glove compartment – to find the delivery man. But he soon spotted a “SMILE. JESUS LOVES YOU” bumper sticker, he wrote, and returned home.
But it was Walker’s ex-wife, Cindy Grossman, who offered the most harrowing glimpse into Walker’s post-football life, telling ABC News that Walker once threatened her with a weapon.
“He got a gun, and he put it to my temple,” Grossman told Woodruff in 2008.
“Put the gun right to your temple,” Woodruff replied, “and what did he say?”
"I'm gonna blow your effin' brains out,” Grossman said.
Walker told ABC News at the time that he had no recollection of the incident described by Grossman. He did not deny it, acknowledging that he “probably did it,” but asserted that the gaps in his memory, a hallmark symptom of D.I.D., left him unable to address it.
"Do you not remember something like that because you think that was another alter," Woodruff asked Walker in 2008, "or do you want to get out of having to talk about it?"
"No, no, no, no," Walker insisted. "I'm talking about everything else. If I can remember it, I'll talk about it."
For Grossman, however, the chilling experience remained clear in her mind.
“[Walker] says he doesn’t remember a lot of these details,” Woodruff told Grossman in 2008.
“He may not,” Grossman replied. “But I certainly do.”
Some observers have suggested that Walker’s diagnosis provides a convenient mechanism for deflecting responsibility.
“It’s an excellent excuse to use if you’ve pointed a gun at somebody," retired Atlanta Journal-Constitution politics editor Jim Galloway recentlytold The Washington Post. "‘That wasn’t me; it was somebody else.’"
Walker and Grossman divorced in 2002, and Grossman sought and was granted a restraining order against Walker in 2005. Court records related to those proceedings contain additional allegations that Walker made other threats of violence toward Grossman and her then-boyfriend.
Walker denied the allegations when he was interviewed by police in 2005, and the police report notes that he “was very calm but surprised about [the statements]” and suggested that someone was “making allegations about him to help with future child custody issues.” Walker’s campaign did not respond to questions about the incident.
Grossman did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story. Walker’s allies have pointed to the fact that she has participated in several interviews in support of Walker’s condition as evidence that the couple remains on friendly terms.
But police reports obtained by ABC News and others have since shown that Grossman is not the only woman to have made allegations of threatening behavior against Walker.
In 2002, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader told police that she believed Walker was lurking outside her home, and that a year earlier, Walker had “made threats to her” and was “having her house watched.” The former cheerleader declined to comment for this story. She told police in 2002 that she did not want officers to pursue Walker for fear of “[making] the problem worse.”
In 2012, Myka Dean, who claimed to have had an on-again, off-again relationship with the former football star for nearly two decades, told police that Walker “lost it” after she tried to break up with him, and she said he threatened to “sit outside her apartment and blow her head off when she came outside.” Dean died in 2019, but in a statement provided to ABC News from the Walker campaign, Dean’s mother said the family was never aware of her daughter’s allegations, and they are “very proud of the man Herschel Walker has become. We love him, pray for him, and wish we lived in Georgia so we could vote him into the United States Senate.” Dean’s mother and stepfather also served on the board of Walker’s company, Renaissance Man, Inc.
Walker, who has never been charged with a crime, has denied both claims,telling Axios in December 2021that "people can't just make up and add on and say other things that's not the truth. They want me to address things that they made up."
A complex condition
Dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personality disorder, is a rare mental illness that Walker had said he has struggled with since childhood: “I just didn’t know what it was,” Walker told ABC News in 2008.
Walker was initially diagnosed and primarily treated by Dr. Jerry Mungadze,a Bedford, Texas-based licensed professional counselorwith a Ph.D. in counselor education. Mungadze penned the foreword to Walker’s memoir, in which Walker described him as “one of my best friends and probably the most essential,” as he has become central to Walker’s recovery narrative.
But Mungadze’s embrace of controversial or unproven psychological theories and treatments over the years havesince raised questions about the treatmentWalker may have received. In 2008, Walker wrote that Mungadze “played an important role in my healing process,” which featured both out-patient treatment at a hospital in Southern California and a protocol apparently developed by Mungadze himself.
"Dr. Jerry described his procedures and proposed treatment for the part of me I had never truly understood,” Walker wrote. “He said his treatment would focus on the whole person rather than the separate parts of personalities I created. He assured me it was possible to achieve emotional stability based upon the approach and methods he had developed."
Mungadze did not respond to multiple requests for comment, and Walker’s campaign did not respond to questions about the nature and extent of the candidate’s treatment.
Walker told Axios in December 2021 that he held himself “accountable” for his behavior toward Grossman, and said he has since experienced something close to a full recovery from the disorder that previously led him down that violent path.
“[I’m] better now than 99% of the people in America,” he said. “Just like I broke my leg; I put the cast on. It healed."
But according to one expert, recovery from D.I.D. is not as straightforward as Walker seems to suggest, and it often requires long-term treatment to manage symptoms that can cause “impairment on work and social function.”
Dr. J. Douglas Bremner, a professor of psychiatry and radiology at Emory University who specializes in the treatment of severe trauma-related conditions, cautioned that he could not speak definitively about Walker’s condition because he had not personally treated him, but he said the goal for most patients would “be more management of symptoms and, in some cases, it can be eventual integration of personalities.”
“In my experience, that kind of recovery is not something that is typical,” Bremner said of Walker’s assertion that he had completely healed. “The treatment is long term, so there's no quick fixes.”
Walker’s campaign did not respond to questions about the current status of his recovery or whether he still receives treatment to manage the condition, leaving voters to parse Walker’s past statements.
“A lot of people may have this problem, but they’re too ashamed or they're too scared to come out and say something,” Walker told ABC News in 2008. “I said I'm not ashamed, because guys, I'm human. I'm not nobody special. I'm just Herschel.”
Georgia Republicans will soon decide whether that’s enough for them.
