On June 17, former Dallas Cowboys superstar wide receiver Michael Irvin invited Mavs fans to come out and celebrate Father’s Day with him at Playmakers88, his new sports bar outside of Dallas. It was there that he announced the heartbreaking news that his wife, Sandy Harrell, has early-onset Alzheimer’s.
Irvin revealed to the public that his wife of nearly four decades has been battling the disease for over five years. The 58-year-old sometimes has difficulty walking or speaking. She now needs around-the-clock care and has a live-in caretaker.
Despite the health crisis, Irvin said he is committed to keeping Sandy in the home that she has known and loved for years.
“If anyone has earned the right to stay in her house, MY WIFE HAS!!!,” Irvin told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “That I shall honor. No matter what it takes.”
Irvin’s decision to stick by his ailing wife is prompted by his desire to repay her for all the times she could have left him in the past.
In 2007, Irvin was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and almost 20 minutes into his speech, he turned the focus on his wife, who was accompanied by their two sons, Michael, 10, and Elijah, 8, and their daughter, Chelsea.
“It is easy to live with the ‘for better,’ but rarely can you find someone who sticks around and endures the ‘for worse,'” said Irvin. “Sandy, my beautiful wife, I have worked tirelessly, baby, to give you the ‘for better,’ but I also gave you the ‘for worse.’ And you didn’t deserve it.”
He added, “I thank you from a place that I can’t mention, that I can’t even express, baby, for keeping our family together. I love you so much.”
Michael and Sandy Irvin tied the knot on June 23, 1990, two years after Irvin was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the first round. During his tenure as a Cowboys player, Irvin found himself in an array of controversies, from allegedly stabbing his offensive lineman teammate Everett McIver in the neck with a pair of scissors to being caught in a hotel room in 1996 with 10.3 grams of cocaine, sex toys, and two strippers.
After being released from jail, Irvin had to face Sandy. Prepped and ready to do damage control, she stopped him and told him she was going to stick beside him.
“I’ve already heard from God,” Sandy told her husband, according to The Ringer. “I am your wife. You need to go make your peace with God.”
Irvin recalled being taken aback by Sandy’s response. “She took the fight from between me and her, where I thought, Oh, I got a shot to convince and confuse her,” he said, “and she put the fight between me and God, where there is no winning for me. It really was brilliant, actually.”
Unfortunately, things got even worse after Irvin retired in 1999.
In 2000, Irvin was arrested on charges of possession of ecstasy pills and marijuana. Then, in 2001, he was arrested again on felony cocaine possession charges. In 2005, the former NFL star was arrested once again, this time on charges of possession of drug paraphernalia. The latest arrest resulted in a brief suspension of his Sunday and Monday “Countdown” shows on ESPN.
Irvin, who claimed he had the ability to “switch addictions,” was as fond of the women as he was of the drugs.
“If I was with two women, I wanted to have four. With four, I wanted to have six,” he told The Ringer in 2017. “It got out of hand. I look back and think, ‘Thank God I got caught. Thank God I got caught when I did.’”
It was clear that Irvin had a problem. His substance abuse issues became so apparent that Hall of Fame wide receiver Cris Carter, who played for the Minnesota Vikings from 1990 to 2001, allegedly suggested that Sandy should leave her husband. At least, that’s what Irvin believes happened.
He told ESPN’s Dan Le Batard, “Even though I love Cris to death … I don’t know what year it was, we were in the Pro Bowl. He said to my wife — he said to my wife — you know, Michael would never come out of this problem until you leave him.”
The Hall of Famer revealed that this was the first time he had publicly opened up about Carter’s betrayal. “For years, I’ve held it. I’ve never shared that with anybody,” he said. “I was so irked with Cris because he was out of line then. His ass is out of line now. He is out. Of. Line.”
Carter had also struggled with addiction at a point in time and possibly had pure intentions. However, despite Irvin not appreciating his actions, the former Dallas wide receiver never brought it to his ex-pal’s attention.
“Never confronted him with it because I know, just because he spoke it doesn’t make it reality, and it wasn’t going to be my reality in that situation,” said Irvin.
And he was right. It wasn’t his reality. Sandy continued to stick by her husband’s side. In 2015, while attending a funeral for a loved one, Irvin took to social media to thank Sandy for being his lifesaver.
“Thx to this women (sic) Im enjoying da service fr my seat & not n the program MYSELF! Thank U God for this WIFE! God Bless,” he wrote.
Thx to this women Im enjoying da service fr my seat & not n the program MYSELF! Thank U God for this WIFE! God Bless pic.twitter.com/MGrInnb2cS
— Michael Irvin (@michaelirvin88) July 26, 2015
In 2023, Irvin raised some eyebrows when he was suddenly stripped of all of his on-air duties for the NFL Network during the week leading to the Super Bowl. The network decided to boot Irvin from its Super Bowl coverage after a female hotel employee raised concerns about an interaction she had with him in a Phoenix hotel lobby.
Although the details of the interaction were not immediately made clear, in a legal motion, the woman claims she was flagged down by Irvin, who “appeared to be visibly intoxicated” and became “aggressive” toward her. Irvin, who admittedly had just returned from dinner and drinks with former Cowboys safety Michael Brooks, maintains that he briefly spoke to the woman in the hotel lobby for no more than a minute, and the only physical contact between them was a handshake.
”I don’t really recall that conversation, to tell you the truth. We were out drinking,” he said. “It was just a friendly conversation. ‘What’s up?’ I don’t even know. … I am totally perplexed.”
Irvin was accused of sexual misconduct and subsequently taken off both ESPN and the NFL Network. His upcoming guest appearance on ESPN’s “First Take” with Stephen A Smith was also canceled.
Despite the serious accusations brought against her husband, Sandy remained at his side.
Irvin unfailingly maintained that he did nothing wrong. Witnesses came forward in Irvin’s defense, and Irvin’s lawyers released surveillance footage showing that he only shook the woman’s hand and touched her arm twice.
The video of Michael Irvin and his sexual misconduct accuser was finally released Tuesday and the footage showed the ex-NFL star only had a fairly lengthy conversation with the woman pic.twitter.com/3VH2K5v9Wh
— Shannonnn sharpes Burner (PARODY Account) (@shannonsharpeee) March 14, 2023
In a press conference, Irvin expressed being thankful that there were witnesses to corroborate his story and that he was never left alone with the accuser.
“That would have been a moment that I’ve had alone, and I know nobody is going to listen to what I say,” an emotional Irvin said.
Irvin hit back by filing a $100 million suit against Marriott, which owns the Renaissance Hotel where the incident took place, and six hotel employees (including his accuser) for defamation and tortious interference in a business relationship.
The parties reached a settlement in September 2023. The terms of the settlement were not made public.
“Michael Irvin’s wife got to be tired of him getting hit with an allegation or legal trouble every three years,” an X user wrote.
And while Sandy has never publicly shared her personal thoughts, she’s remained planted in her promise to stick by her husband, and amid her Alzheimer’s diagnosis, the Hall of Famer intends to return the loyalty.
During his restaurant opening, Irvin shared a heartwarming story about how he would stop at nothing to get his wife what she wanted — even chicken wings.
“When I’m working — and she is a very finicky eater — and I’m on the road, she would always call me and say ‘baby, I’m hungry,'” Irvin said. “I’m literally on the show. In the breaks, I would call and say, ‘My wife just called, get her some chicken to the house.’”
He added, “She would only eat the wings from here. No other wings.”
Irvin asked for supporters to pray for his family during this difficult time.
