No family is immune to addiction, not even that of country music star Randy Travis. While the singer continues to fight for his life in a hospital in Dallas, diagnosed with viral cardiomyopathy and having undergone brain surgery following a stroke, attention has turned to the people around him, specifically his live-in lover and younger brother.
Problems with the law arose early for Travis, with arrests for burglary and auto theft when he was a teen. His life turned around with Lib Hatcher in his life. As an early mentor to his music career, they eventually married in 1991 and he stayed clean for 19 years during their marriage. They divorced in 2010 after she discovered him cheating with his dentist’s wife, Mary Beougher, beginning a downward spiral.
He continued his relationship with Mary, who he refers to as his fiancé even though she’s still married to the Texas dentist. Beougher has a record of her own when it comes to drug use. In 2003, she pled guilty to charges for obtaining synthetic speed, or phentermine, using forged prescriptions.
His relationship with Beougher has apparently done nothing to point Randy away from his addiction problems. In fact, Travis’ father Harold blames Mary for his son’s downfall. Recent arrests in February and August of 2012 are related to intoxication, retaliation against law enforcement officials, and in the latter incident also involves alleged public nudity.
The Enquirer reports that inside sources claimed Randy had been “drinking heavily and taking speed to help get through his performances without passing out on stage” prior to his recent medical crisis that began in early July. Sadly, while Randy was struggling medically, on July 16th his younger brother David Traywick, who uses the family’s real last name, was arrested along with his wife and a friend for drug trafficking in North Carolina. This was the second time David was busted for allegedly running a methamphetamine lab.
Addiction is a very difficult thing to get control of and manage. It is even harder when family members are also struggling with addiction and falling into illegal behavior.