For a brief moment, Ted Williams captivated America as "The Man With the Golden Voice."
One minute he was homeless, the next minute he was famous, and his rags-to-riches tale
was the feel good story of 2011.
But not all fairytales have happy endings.
So, whatever happened to The Man with the Golden Voice?
The 'golden voice' goes viral
Williams' overnight fame dates back to a video posted by The Columbus Dispatch in 2011.
At the time, Williams was homeless and asking for help on the streets of Ohio, aided by
a sign that read "I have a God-given gift of voice."
"When you're listening to nothing but the best of oldies, you're listening to Mantic
98.9.
Thank you so much, god bless you."
His remarkable sound went viral.
A $375,000 dollar book deal and offers from Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, MSNBC, the Cleveland
Cavaliers, and many other opportunities soon followed.
Williams, whose former radio career was sidelined by years of addiction to drugs and alcohol,
had suddenly been given a second chance at life.
"Kraft homestyle macaroni and cheese.
Cheesy noodles topped with golden brown breadcrumbs.
You know you love it!"
He struggled to stay sober
About a week after he became famous, Williams admitted to talk show host Dr. Phil McGraw
that he was still drinking and agreed to enter a treatment facility.
A spokesperson for The Dr. Phil Show told CNN that Williams' decision was fueled in
part by a physical altercation with one of his daughters.
Williams lasted just 12 days in the facility before leaving voluntarily.
About four months later, Williams returned to rehab, committing to a 90-day program.
After entering treatment, the Cleveland Cavaliers opted not to pursue a working relationship
with him, and other gigs were also put on hold.
Tell-all
Williams appeared on the Today show in May 2012 to discuss the release of his book, A
Golden Voice: How Faith, Hard Work, and Humility Brought Me from the Streets to Salvation.
The memoir revealed some startling information, including that Williams was a delinquent parent
and had even played "a role in prostituting his girlfriend so he could get money for drugs."
Despite his struggles, Williams said he was maintaining his sobriety and had surrounded
himself with better people this time around, admitting, "[I take it] one day at a time."
'I own nothing'
In October 2014, nearly four years after his life-changing video, The Columbus Dispatch
sat down with Williams for a lengthy interview.
Williams revealed that despite all the opportunities that came with viral fame, he was struggling
to make ends meet due to people taking advantage of him.
"A lot of things that I signed early on in 2011, I probably shouldn't have signed.
A lot of people that were involved in my life then shouldn't have been."
One of those people was his former manager, Alfred Battle.
In 2016, Battle again tried to convince Williams to work with him on an unspecified project
in Africa.
Luckily, Williams said no, as Battle was arrested at the Newark airport for trying to smuggle
a half million dollars worth of heroin into the country from Ethiopia.
Williams for president?
Of all the wild stories to come out of Williams' rise to fame, none was as surprising as the
time he announced he would be running for president of the United States.
According to USA Today, Williams made the announcement in June 2015 while appearing
on Scott Spears' Now radio program.
"I was created to create change.
I want to do it big.
Looking at all the other people running, I said why not change things on the highest
level."
Alas, his bid for the White House concluded by the end of that summer.
He told NBC News, "I wanted to focus on other things.
I wanted to inspire and encourage."
Williams comes full circle
Five years after the video that made him famous, The Columbus Dispatch profiled Williams again
to see how he had been doing.
This time, the news was good!
He had landed a Pepsi commercial and had even begun starring in his own weekday radio program,
The Golden Voice Show, in Columbus.
The best part: it was on WVKO-AM, which was the same radio station where Williams began
his career in the '80s.
According to Christian Today, Williams said during one of his shows, "I'm almost like
a poster child for redemption."
He gives back
In 2016, Williams was featured in one of Oprah's Where Are They Now?
segments.
While recapping the story of his rise, fall, and rise again, Williams became emotional
about his desire to leave a legacy of which both his fans and family could be proud.
To that end, he has been working with homeless charities, even returning to Friends of the
Homeless, a shelter that he once relied on when he was down and out.
"I was right there at the head of the line, waiting for my handout.
So this is where I have a lot of loyalties now.
It's just exciting to meet the people and to embrace them with hugs and all of that
stuff, because they know that I was just five years ago in the same situation that they
were."
Williams has even larger charitable aspirations, however.
He wants to open up a homeless laundromat, so that those who are in the position he once
was have a shot at getting back to work, just like he did.
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