Embattled Toronto Mayor Rob Ford said that he is taking a break from his campaign to seek help for alcohol abuse, he said in a statement Wednesday.
The news comes after a local newspaper published stills from a new Rob Ford crack video (below) and a Toronto bar patron recorded him drunkenly rambling Monday.
In the case of the latter, the oft-troubled mayor was ranting about a political opponent and was reportedly heard saying he'd like to "f--king jam her."
Ford told a Toronto columnist he is "ready to take a break" and "get help" and "it's not easy to be vulnerable and this is one of the most difficult times in my life."
Ford went on to add, "I have a problem with alcohol, and the choices I have made while under the influence. I have struggled with this for some time."
The statement followed the Toronto Globe and Mail reporting on Ford smoking what a drug dealer described to the paper as crack cocaine from a copper pipe.
It was shot in what appears to be Ford's sister's basement, according to the publication. The paper said the substance in the pipe could not be confirmed.
The video is part "of a package of three videos the dealer said was surreptitiously filmed around 1:15 a.m., and which he says he is now selling for 'at least six figures.'"
Shortly after the newspaper confronted the Mayor, Ford announced he going to get help. His lawyer, Dennis Morris, said Ford's leave begins immediately.
"He has to take a break to re-energize, because he realizes he has flaws that have to be addressed," Morris told CTV, while questioning the video's authenticity.
"If these guys are drug dealers and there's money involved, they can say whatever they want to get more money, to extract more money from the people who are paying."
The Globe said it did not buy the video, only screen grabs.
Rob Ford's epic fall from grace started in May 2013 when a cell phone video taken months earlier appeared to show him smoking crack cocaine.
Despite intense public pressure, he remained defiant and denied using any drugs. In November, the city council stripped him of most of his power as mayor.
That didn't deter Ford, though. On the contrary, he ignored calls to enter rehab or resign from officie, instead vowing "outright war" on the city council.
"If you think American-style politics is nasty, you guys have just attacked Kuwait," he said then to groans and laughter in the city council chambers.
He then bum-rushed someone (below). It was something.
None of this stopped Ford from seeking reelection, something he's campaigned for hard in recent months despite continued public ridicule and other challenges.
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