The Tragic Side Of Ric Flair's Real Life

He's the limousine-riding, jet-flying, kiss-stealing, wheeling and dealing son of a gun. The dirtiest player in the game, and of course, "The Nature Boy." Ric Flair will undoubtedly go down as wrestling royalty for decades, and perhaps centuries to come, as he not only achieved more in his career than some people will achieve in ten careers, but he has become someone who has transcended wrestling and become a pop culture superstar.

Flair has had multiple documentaries made about him, he's appeared in movies like "Magic Mike XXL," and hip-hop stars Metro Boomin and Offset released a single called "Ric Flair Drip" in 2017, a song that peaked as high as number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has gone platinum six times over. He also appeared in the music video for that song, with his trademark "WOOOO!" now being something that many people say on a daily basis. To put it simply, virtually everyone knows the name Ric Flair.

With all that said, for as storied and eventful as his career in front of the camera has been, Flair's life behind the scenes is arguably even more jaw-dropping. Like we said before, he's done more in wrestling than most people will ever dream of, but he has also been through more in his own personal life than some people would believe, to the point where when you hear about what he's been through, it's even more amazing that he's gone on to have the career he's had.

Which brings us to this list, so sit back, relax, and join us on a journey through the incredible life of Richard Morgan Fliehr, where we will detail some of the most tragic things "The Nature Boy" has been through in his 76 years on this planet. 

The name Fred Phillips probably won't mean a lot to anyone, but that would have been the name of the man we all know as Ric Flair had he not been kidnapped as an infant.

Flair has been very open about how he was taken from his birth mother without her consent as a baby, and was subsequently placed in the Memphis branch of the Tennessee Children's Home Society. On his "To Be The Man" podcast in 2022, Flair explained that Georgia Tann, the branch operator who was later revealed to be a child trafficker that kidnapped thousands of children throughout her career, mostly likely told Flair's birth mother that he was a stillborn, and all she needed to do was sign some documents which turned out to be papers allowing her baby to be put up for adoption.

Fred Phillips was adopted three weeks after he was born by Kathleen and Richard Fliehr, primarily because Kathleen had been unable to have children, according to "The Nature Boy." The Fliehr family would later settle in Edina, Minnesota, where Ric grew up, with his common billing of being from Charlotte, North Carolina, coming from the fact that he moved there at the start of his career. Ric's adoptive parents would tell him at a young age that he wasn't their biological son, but he has always called Kathleen and Richard his parents and has stated that he has no interest in reaching out to his biological family.

Flair even said that a man claiming to be his brother has reached out to him in recent years, and while it's been proven that the man is in fact Flair's brother, he actually declined to meet as he would get exhausted at the idea of wanting to learn the truth.

"The Nature Boy" had already passed through Verge Gagne's AWA, the International Wrestling Enterprise promotion in Japan, and various other territories before landing in Jim Crockett Promotions in 1974. Flair won the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championships with Rip Hawk and the NWA Mid-Atlantic Television Championship in his first year with the company, before winning the first of three NWA Mid-Atlantic (also known as the NWA Eastern States) Heavyweight Championships in September 1975. However, it was during this reign that Flair's career almost came to an end before it had even started.

On October 4, 1975, Flair was involved in a serious plane crash in Wilmington, North Carolina, where the pilot of the small plane decided to dump fuel from the gas tank in order to accommodate the weight of the wrestlers on board, a weight that was already not distributed properly. Joining Flair on board was David Crockett, Johnny Valentine, Bob Bruggers, and the man who portrayed the original Mr. Wrestling character, Tim Woods, all of whom survived the crash, with the pilot, Vietnam veteran Joseph Farkas, suffering injuries that would ultimately lead to his death in December 1975.

Just because the passengers survived the crash didn't mean that they walked away at 100%. Flair would end up breaking his back in three places, with doctors telling him that he would never wrestle again. Obviously, Flair would return to the ring by the end of January 1976 thanks to a rigorous physical therapy schedule with a new in-ring style focused more on grappling, as did Mr. Wrestling, who wrestled later that same month, albeit in extreme pain. However, Bruggers would choose to retire after also breaking his back, and Valentine, who sat in the seat Flair was originally supposed to be in, would end up paralyzed.

Everyone on the planet has lost someone near and dear to their hearts at one point or another, but Ric Flair has dealt with a lot more tragedy in his family than one can imagine.

Flair was extremely close to his adopted father Richard, who passed away in 2000. However, it was having to break the news to his adopted mother that was the hardest part, stating on the "Club Shay Shay" podcast in late 2023 that he actually kept his dad's passing a secret for five days as he knew the news would destroy his mom, and it did. When Ric broke the news, he said that she simply looked out of the window and never said a word, feeling that the news likely killed her on that day, despite her living until 2003.

10 years after his mother's passing, Flair's youngest son, Reid, died at the age of 25 from a drug overdose, with Ric being the one to discover his son's body. Reid had reportedly suffered from addiction for many years, something that Ric tried to help him with by taking him to various rehab centers around the country. Reid overdosed twice in 2011 and even avoided being brain-dead after his oxygen levels dropped to as low as 42 mmHg, but he wasn't able to shake his demons and died in March 2013. When recalling the moment he found out that his son didn't make it, Flair said, "I walked across the street to a bar, and this is the God's honest truth, I just drank for five years."

Finally, on October 26, 2024, Flair's now former partner, Wendy Barlow, announced that her son Sebastian, who Ric was the stepfather to, had committed suicide at the age of 24 via a single gunshot wound.

Following WWE's purchase of WCW in March 2001, and the now-infamous Invasion storyline that lasted until Survivor Series of that same year, Ric Flair made his return to WWE as the consortium that purchased Stephanie and Shane McMahon's stock in the company. He would feud with Vince McMahon, The Undertaker, and Stone Cold Steve Austin in his first six months back in the company, but he landed himself in some very hot water during the company's European tour in the spring of 2002.

"The Plane Ride from Hell" has gone down as one of the darkest days in WWE's modern history, with the roster indulging in far too much alcohol, debauchery, and substance abuse for one trip across the Atlantic Ocean. While the likes of Mr. Perfect and Scott Hall were fired from the company due to their actions on the flight, it was Flair who brought a lawsuit into the mix as he reportedly made unwanted sexual advances towards two of the female flight attendants on board. According to those on the plane, Flair was strutting around with nothing but his robe, flashing his genitals at everyone, before cornering attendant Heidi Doyle and almost forcing her to touch his crotch.

Dustin "Goldust" Rhodes reportedly stopped Flair from going any further over the plane's PA system, which he then used to serenade his ex-wife Terri Runnels, while Jim Ross forced Flair to get dressed. The two flight attendants sued WWE for the emotional stress brought on them by Flair, who has always denied the allegations lobbied against him, and the suit was eventually settled out of court, but the strain it put on Doyle's life in particular was showcased in the episode of "Dark Side of the Ring" covering the flight. 

Whenever people put together lists of the greatest matches in the history of WWE WrestleMania, Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels from WrestleMania 24 in 2008 is always one that will sit highly in people's rankings. The match was the culmination of a story involving Flair where Vince McMahon told him that he would be forced to retire the next time he lost a match. Flair would go on one final winning streak before clashing with the man many consider to be "Mr. WrestleMania" in Michaels, having one final match before riding off into the sunset. The story was born out of McMahon's real-life desire to see Flair retire as he didn't think he had anything left to prove, and "The Nature Boy" did retire...for about 20 months.

In November 2009, Flair came out of retirement to join Hulk Hogan on a tour or Australia where he and "The Hulkster" would main event shows in Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, and Sydney. Given that the tour took place just under a month after Hogan announced that he had signed with TNA Wrestling, Flair would make his way to the Impact Zone as well, arriving on the January 4, 2010 episode of "TNA Impact."

His decision to continue wrestling until September 2011 was one that angered a lot of fans, and some wrestlers too as everyone agreed that it was a terrible idea that ruined his legacy. ECW's Axl Rotten and Shane Douglas thought the move was horrendous, former WWE Superstar The Honky Tonk Man believes that most people will only remember Flair's later years due to how bad they were, and even Flair himself has called his run with TNA the biggest regret of his career. However, there might be one good reason why Flair continued his wrestling career.

If you ask any wrestling fan, "What possessed Ric Flair to ruin the send-off he got in WWE by wrestling in TNA?" The number one answer you will likely get is that he simply needed the money. This is something that Flair has confirmed himself, and it's understandable considering how many financial problems he ran into after his WWE retirement.

In late 2007, Flair opened up his own financial business called, naturally, "Ric Flair Finance." Naming a financial company after someone who used to brag about what animal his shoes were made out of was never going to be something people were overly interested in, and in July 2008, four months after his WWE exit, "Ric Flair Finance" filed for bankruptcy.

Once "The Nature Boy" arrived in TNA, another wrestling company popped up claiming that Flair owed them money. That company turned out to be Ring of Honor, for which Flair made a series of appearances in 2009. ROH ended up filing a lawsuit against Flair in 2010, claiming that he owed the company $40,000 from missed appearances that Flair was contractually obligated to be at, with ROH citing a major loss in revenue due to Flair skipping shows. Former ROH owner Cary Silkin blasted Flair on social media over his actions, and even revealed that the lawsuit has never been resolved.

Highspots.com was also in a legal battle with Flair over finances, stating that they had loaned him nearly $70,000. Flair allowed the site to use his own NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship belt for fanfests and conventions as collateral for the loan, but Highspots claimed that he still owed around $35,000 plus interest. In the end, an unnamed party ended up paying whatever Flair owed Highspots, and the two parties have never worked with each other since. 

No, we are not talking about his legendary battles with the likes of Ricky Steamboat, Terry Funk, or Barry Windham. We are talking about the people who have gone on the record in stating how much they dislike "The Nature Boy" for things that he has either done or said. 

There was the time where WWE Hall of Famer Teddy Long claimed that "The Nature Boy" was racist to him during the early 1980s, stating "[He] walked up to me one time and asked me, he said, 'N****r you like working here?" a remark that Flair has reportedly never apologized for, and that according to Long, he hasn't really changed much since the 1980s. 

Mick Foley was deeply offended at the fact that Flair called him a "glorified stuntman" in his autobiography, which was actually a response to Foley bashing Flair in his own book, where he puts some of the blame on Flair for how poorly he was booked during his WCW career. They would have had at least one altercation, but after working a very violent feud in 2006, they have since become friends.

Bruno Sammartino stated that he didn't respect Flair, Hulk Hogan had tension with him during his time in WCW, and Bret Hart flat out said that Flair "sucks" during a radio interview in 1993, leading to Flair accusing Bret of exploiting Owen Hart's death years later. "The Nature Boy" would end up having friendships with all of those people, but the same can't be said for Shane Douglas, who has been extremely vocal about his disdain for Flair for sabotaging his push in the NWA and WCW, which caused Flair to accuse Douglas of steroid abuse years later. Unsurprisingly, the two have never been able to properly reconcile.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a wrestler who doesn't have some sort of serious health issue these days. Whether it's nagging injuries or a severe dependency on drugs and alcohol to numb the pain that their bodies are racked with after taking too many bumps. Ric Flair is no exception, especially in recent years.

Flair's years of drinking have led to him having a condition called alcoholic cardiomyopathy, a heart condition that can lead to heart failure after the long-term consumption of alcohol. However, he has had a pacemaker inserted, something that Flair hopes will keep him going until he's 95-years old, but considering that Flair has been spotted drinking heavily at bars around the country, and the fact that he's just released his own line of Flair-branded spirits, he may need a lifestyle change if he wants to live until he's 95.

In 2017, Flair ended up being placed in a medically induced coma for nearly two weeks following complications during a surgery to remove an obstructive piece of his bowel. This was due to Flair suffering from kidney failure and requiring dialysis treatment to drain unnecessary and dangerous fluids from his body to help his kidneys recover. "The Nature Boy" was only given a 20% chance of living by the doctors, but he survived, and after a full month in intensive care, Flair was released from the hospital, believing it was a miracle that he didn't die.

Flair has since stated that he doesn't remember much of what happened at that time, but he does remember passing out during his official retirement match in 2022, which he originally thought was due to dehydration, but after checking with his doctor, it was revealed that he had a full-blown heart attack in the middle of the match.

The health issues haven't stopped for "The Nature Boy" as we close this piece with the most recent news to come out of the Flair camp.

In June 2025, mere weeks after making an appearance on "AEW Collision" to honor the memory of his late friend Steve "Mongo" McMichael, Flair took to social media to announce that he had been diagnosed with skin cancer. In an interview with People.com, Flair explained that he would be undergoing treatment to fight it, and that it was actually the second time in three years that he had been diagnosed with it, and that he had denied to many people that there was anything wrong with him for a long time to preserve his own privacy. The cancer diagnosis resulted in him cancelling several meet-and-greet events as he will now spend the upcoming weeks and months fighting a battle with cancer that he has already overcome once before.

Ironically, the revelation that Flair had skin cancer came just a few days after he had received a significant amount of backlash from fans online following comments he made about AEW commentator and WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross. JR, who also revealed that he has been having treatment to deal with his recent colon cancer diagnosis, was seen to be "seeking attention" according to Flair, who promptly deleted his post off of X (formerly known as Twitter), before backtracking and saying that his post was simply a joke, and that people need to stop being so serious all the time. Flair has been good friends with JR for decades, with Ross even being one of the few people to defend Flair's TNA run, and both of them will be hoping to make full recoveries for their respective battles in the near future.