Grant Hackett: 'I'm proud I got help'

Grant Hackett has spoken for the first time since leaving a US rehab facility after a five-week stay to reportedly treat an addiction to the medication, Stilnox.

"It just gets to a situation in life where you’re not coping too well, and you need to put your hand up and ask for help - I certainly got to that situation", he told Channel Nine News.

"I feel proud of myself that I had the strength and courage to do that, because I want to have a great and happy life ahead of me. I want to be a great father and I want to do all those things properly.

Grant Hackett speaks for the first-time since leaving a US rehab facility. Source: Getty

"Certainly what I’ve learnt over the past five weeks has put me in a position to do all those things a lot better."

He added, "You get to a point when you've got to get your body, you’ve got yourself mentally, you've got to get yourself emotionally into shape."

His time in rehab followed a series of events after the 2012 break-down of his marriage to Candice Alley, with whom he has two children, four-year-old twins, Charlize and Jagger.

An incident at Melbourne's Crown Casino hotel was believed to be the final straw for his family, who staged an intervention.

Grant with ex wife Candice Alley in 2010. Source: Getty

Grant’s father, Neville Hackett, revealed at the time that the family had sought expert advice on how to best to help the star, "We sought expert advice and we had a meeting with these experts and some of his friends and we decided to take the action with Grant without him knowing."

Initially the 33-year-old Olympic champion denied that he was entering rehab when he was spotted arriving in Los Angeles back in February, telling reporters, "This is a retreat to charge the batteries."

However, Grant now says he now encourages others to follow his lead and not be afraid to ask for help, "I encourage anyone who's feeling anything like that to certainly put your hand up and ask for help and there’s nothing wrong with that."

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