"Better that they think I'm dead": The tragedy of the Brazilian star of the past
Régis Pitbull played for Corinthians, Vasco and others, but an addiction to crack led him at age 49 to a life on the streets of São Paulo. He sleeps under tarps and cardboard, receives food from a restaurant and refuses to undergo treatment.
Régis Pitbull was once a professional soccer player who played for Corinthians, Vasco da Gama, Ponte Preta and Bahia, and even had a career overseas. Today, just a few weeks before his 50th birthday, he lives on the streets of São Paulo and struggles with a severe addiction to crack.
An article published this week in the Brazilian "Globo" revealed the difficult situation of Régis Fernandes de Silva, known by his nickname Régis Pitbull. For the past two months, he has been living on the streets and alleys of Pirituba, the neighborhood in northern São Paulo where he was born and raised, and sleeps in a square under a makeshift shelter made of tarps, blankets and cardboard.
"I don't want anyone to know that I exist. It's better that they think I'm dead. I'm not miserable," said the former soccer player, who will celebrate his 50th birthday on September 22. The addiction has distanced almost all his friends from him and left him without a place to live, while the apartment that is still in his possession could also be taken from him due to debts for building committee fees and property taxes, and a legal process underway regarding it.
His daily routine illustrates how much his life has changed. Every morning he arrives at a nearby restaurant, where the employees give him food and coffee, allow him to use the restroom and charge his mobile phone. One of the employees said that there are rare days when he arrives sober. The phone is the main means of communication he has left, and according to the report, he also uses it to pay for the drugs he consumes.
Despite his situation, Pitbull refuses at this stage to receive treatment for the addiction or to be hospitalized in a rehabilitation institution. Friends and family members tried to help him, and Corinthians fans also recently arrived to talk to him and offer help, but he insists that the only thing he needs is a job to get his life back on track. His associates said that his unwillingness to accept treatment is the main obstacle on the way to another attempt to rehabilitate him.
Problems with drugs accompanied Pitbull even during his career. He failed drug tests twice due to the use of marijuana and was suspended for a total of more than four months. Over the years, the addiction worsened, and in 2022 he even entered a rehabilitation institution, but less than a month after leaving it, he experienced a relapse and returned to using drugs.
Last year, he also got into trouble with the law after he attacked the building committee in the building where he lived. He was arrested and later required to wear an electronic shackle as part of a protection order. In a chance meeting documented in the article with the police officer who arrested him, Pitbull told him: "You arrested me, but you helped me a lot. Maximum respect." The police officer replied: "I didn't arrest you, you arrested yourself."
And the gap between then and today is inconceivable even for him. During his career, Pitbull recorded 170 matches and 49 goals, and played, among others, in Portugal, Japan, Turkey, South Korea and Kuwait. He said that during his prime he drove around in a BMW and a Dodge Dakota pickup truck, and recalled how he once arrived at a meat restaurant and the owners even refused to allow him to pay because of his status as a soccer player.
"Can you imagine such a thing today?" he asked. Today, instead of luxury cars, one of the most important things he has left is a blue bicycle, which he rides around the neighborhood where he grew up.
