“Iron Mike” once looked indestructible in the ring, but the 56-year-old seems convinced his “expiration date” is coming “real soon” after seeing spots on his face while looking in the mirror recently.
During an interview with his therapist Sean McFarland on the Hotboxin’ With Mike Tyson podcast, Tyson revealed some thoughts about his own mortality during a larger discussion about financial security and the impact of money on one’s happiness.
“We’re all gonna die one day, of course,” Tyson told McFarland and fellow guest DJ Whoo Kid. “Then, when I look in the mirror, I see those little spots on my face, I say, ‘Wow. That’s my expiration date is coming close, really soon.’”
“Even now, money don’t mean s— to me,” Tyson said earlier in the podcast. “I always tell people—they think money’s gonna make them happy; they’ve never had a lot of money before. When you have a lot of money, you can’t expect nobody to love you. How am I gonna love you? How am I gonna confess my love to you when you have $500 billion?
“It’s just that, the false sense of security. You believe nothing can happen. You don’t believe the banks could collapse. You believe that you’re invincible when you have a lot of money, which isn’t true. That’s why I always say money is a false sense of security.”
This isn’t the first moment of significant public introspection from Tyson in the last few months, nor is it the first time he’s discussed his own eventual death.
During a conference on psychedelics in Miami last fall, Tyson revealed he had used Sonoran desert toad venom for psychedelic purposes 53 times during his life, and that he “died” during his first trip from the drug.
“I ‘died’ during my first trip,” Tyson said, per the New York Post. “I did it as a dare I was doing heavy drugs like cocaine, so why not? It’s another dimension. Before I did the toad, I was a wreck.
“The toughest opponent I ever faced was myself. I had low self-esteem. People with big egos often have low self-esteem. We use our ego to subsidize that. The toad strips the ego.”
Tyson, who raises the toads on a ranch in Southern California, said he is a “different person” after that experience, and that it has improved his life and shifted his perspective on the world.
