Michael Vick On What He Learned In Jail

Check out Micheal Vicks Exclusive interview with Essence.com, where he tells us all about what he learned while in jail.

(Original Posting: www.essence.com )

ESSENCE.com caught up with Vick to discuss the details of his dogfighting past, what prison has taught him, and where he is mentally and spiritually now.

ESSENCE.com : I know of your football fame and success, but after being in prison and returning to outside life--the NFL, your family--there is so much written about you, but I'd like to ask you: How are you, Michael? How is this new phase of your life going?
MICHAEL VICK: I am doing well. It's been a tough road--18 months locked away--but I am doing better because I detached from the people and the activities that were hurting me--that risked everything I'd worked for and that was ruining all of the goals I had attained.

ESSENCE.com : You mention the "people" you had to detach from--you mean your old friends from growing up? Did you somehow feel responsible to take care of them?
VICK: I did feel I had to take care of my old friends, the people I came up with. Here I was, making all this money and I wanted them to have a shot, too. I wanted them to be in a position to have a good life, too. I felt a responsibility to keep something going for them. I grew up with them, love and respected them. At the beginning of doing this thing for them, i never thought it would end up as it did.

ESSENCE.com : And by that you mean the dog fighting, the Bad Newz Kennels?
VICK: Yes, it was something they knew, something they did, it was around a lot. I know it is so wrong now. And, I am doing a lot of work with the Humane Society to try to give back, to do something positive, to go against all the negative I did, and that went on in that business. I just felt this pressure to keep the financial end going for those guys, and I've learned to let that go, and let them go, and what I was doing with them. I had to detach from all of it.

For more of the interview check this out:
http://www.essence.com/entertainment/hot_topics/micheal_vick.php

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