Phillips said he realized he had a sexual addiction problem in August, while he was having an affair with ESPN production assistant Brooke Hundley. That affair eventually included Hundley contacting Phillips’ wife at their home. It made its way to the New York tabloids, where Phillips was front-page fodder, in October.

“I recognized in August, I needed help,” Phillips said. “I started calling facilities.”

He said he had made the decision on Friday, Oct. 23, 2009, to attend the sexual addiction clinic. He was fired by ESPN two days later. Hundley was also let go by ESPN.

At the time, a representative for Phillips said he was entering a treatment facility “to address his personal issues.”

“I couldn’t stop myself from doing the things I was doing, even knowing the consequences,” Phillips told Lauer on Monday.

A month earlier, Phillips wife, Marni, had filed for divorce. The couple had been married for 19 years. He has four children.

He said he has returned to his home, but doesn’t know if his marriage can be saved. He declined to say if he had anything to tell Hundley.Former ESPN baseball analyst and New York Mets general manager Steve Phillips said Monday that he knew he had a sex-addiction problem last August, two months before he was fired after having an affair with an ESPN production assistant.

“What I want to do is take ownership,” he told Matt Lauer on NBC’s Today Show. “I made some mistakes … I’m fully responsible for what I did.”

Phillips spoke publicly for the first time since leaving the same clinic in Hattiesburg, Miss., that golfer Tiger Woods reportedly attended. He called it a facility for people who are “broken” and “struggling to find answers.” He said his focus is “moving forward, trying to save my family.”

“All of that is in the past,” he said. “My focus is moving forward, trying to save my family.”

Hundley, in a taped piece that preceded the Phillips interview, said that she was “young” and had made mistakes as well.His job as an ESPN analyst, is really not affected by this encounter. Working as a sports reporter has nothing to do with his personal life.

This relates back to the discussion we had previously in class. As I recall, most of our classmates didn’t think people in the limelight needed to watch their actions. They didn’t think well-known people are role models for young children.

Even though Phillips is not a well-known athlete, this goes to show that his personal life can affect his career.