Rex Chapman details reasons for publishing memoir, scrutiny of personal life at Kentucky

Rex Chapman’s journey through life has taken him to many places, both physically and mentally. But it was only in recent years that the former star Kentucky shooting guard had considered and coherently assembled the rough narrative of his life.

Up until the last decade or so, Chapman “waltzed” through life without much consideration, he said in an interview on the Paul Finebaum Show on Tuesday discussing his book, It’s Hard for Me to Live with Me: A Memoir. And particular portions — like his rise to basketball prominence in Kentucky carrying unexpected personal reverberations or his eventual addiction to opioids — make for a compelling tale.

Especially given that Chapman, now clean and sober for almost a decade, tells it so openly and honestly.

“Seth Davis co-wrote the book and did all the heavy lifting on this thing,” Chapman said. And he called me and asked me if I wanted to do it. And I don’t know that I did. I don’t know — I was just king of at a point where I had put together some of the things in my life that had led to where I was. And I don’t think I always knew about them. I had just kind of waltzed through life in a fog, a little bit. Especially the previous — from ages 32 to 46, where I was on painkillers and just really ruining my life and the one of those around me.

“And, I must say, this all happened, my kids are ages 10 to 20 at the time when I’m arrested and I go into rehab and I wanted to show them a different way, first and foremost. I could maybe make them proud of me again. And I wanted to do that for my sister and my mom and dad. My friends kids who all looked up to me.”

Chapman rose to early prominence as a high school basketball star in the state of Kentucky, eventually signing with the home stat Wildcats to play in college. On the court, he was an immediate success, earning SEC Freshman of the Year honors in 1986, and leading the Wildcats to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances during two seasons in Lexington.

But during that time, Chapman said he began to face scrutiny for continuing to date his longtime girlfriend from high school, Shawn Higgs, who was on the Kentucky women’s track team. Chapman, who is white, has not been shy over the years in saying those at Kentucky and elsewhere pushed back on his relationship with Higgs, who is Black.

At the time, Chapman responded in an immature fashion, something he reflected on now.

“I slept around with anyone and everyone. Anyone probably willing to show me love and affection, just ’cause I think, at the time, I felt like what UK was doing and asking of me was morally wrong of them,” Chapman said. “But I was also a child. I was a kid and I didn’t really know. And I had a lot of people telling me we shouldn’t date, publicly. ‘You guys can date at night. Do it away from boosters and adults.’ And that part of my life was very formative, as you might imagine.”

Basketball, too, became a refuge for Chapman.

“And the basketball part was easy — I don’t mean it was easy. It was a sanctuary,” Chapman said. “I didn’t have much fun in college, I couldn’t get in to bars and stuff. I played basketball all the time. And I ran around and slept around with girls, trying to cope with whatever I was dealing with.” 

With time, some NBA success, and a descent into addiction before getting clean, Chapman’s life has run the gamut since.

And with the gift of hindsight, Chapman can see there are lessons from his life.

“I thought maybe I had a few things to say and if somebody can take something from it, then great,” Chapman said.