Back in 2011, Ted Williams was living on the streets of Columbus, Ohio when a video of
him doing his radio announcer voice went viral.
That chance encounter changed his life completely.
This is what The Man With the Golden Voice looks like today.
Ted Williams, also known as The Man with the Golden Voice, didn't start out homeless.
For years, Williams worked as a successful radio announcer.
As he told the Columbus Dispatch, he fell in love with radio when he was a 14-year-old
kid in Brooklyn on a school field trip.
Williams spent years "developing" his golden voice, even going to school for radio, as
he wanted to be a part of the entertainment world but didn't think he had the face for TV.
Over time, however, Williams' life began to unravel.
He started drinking a fifth of liquor every day, and began using hard drugs like cocaine.
Williams lost his job and his home in Columbus, Ohio and began bouncing around shelters.
He even turned to crime to fuel his drug habit.
However, the video of Williams and his golden voice went viral, garnering millions of views
in just one day.
It wasn't long after that job offers started pouring in, including announcing for the Cleveland
Cavaliers and a few local Ohio news stations.
Though Ted Williams' life did begin to turn around once his video went viral, it took some time.
About one week after his viral success, Williams was arrested in Los Angeles because of a loud
argument he had with his estranged daughter.
He then appeared on Dr. Phil and told the talk show host that he had an alcohol problem
and would be going to rehab.
Williams did go to rehab, but only stayed 12 days at the treatment facility before checking
himself out, according to an E! News report.
Then, about four months later, Williams' reps told E! News that he'd be going back to the
same facility in Texas, but this time he would stay the full 90 days.
And it seems that he kept his word.
But the blows kept on coming.
According to the News-Herald, the Cleveland Cavaliers dropped Ted Williams from the announcing job.
Williams then went back on the Dr. Phil show and admitted to the world that he'd lied on
his previous episodes about how serious his addictions were.
One of the hardest parts of Ted Williams' battle with drugs and alcohol was his 20-year
long estrangement from his mother.
The former radio announcer appeared on Today in 2011 and spoke about his mom and their
relationship, often through tears.
He described how his greatest wish was for his mom to see him on his feet again.
Williams also spoke fondly about how well his mom raised him, saying that her commitment
to "The Golden Rule" was the reason why he held onto his kindness despite living on the streets.
In that same episode of Today, Al Roker read Williams a statement his mother had sent in:
"This will be my day to see my son get up and help himself [...] Let him see that there's
more to life then hanging around with the wrong crowd and taking drugs."
Williams and his mother were reunited just a few days later.
In 2012, Ted Williams released his memoir.
The book was titled A Golden Voice: How Faith, Hard Work, and Humility Brought Me from the
Streets to Salvation.
"A Golden Voice is a book about hope, redemption and second chance."
The book didn't sugar coat Williams' life or the poor choices he made while he was under
the influence of drugs and alcohol, including when he would use his then-girlfriend in order to buy more drugs.
The newly minted author went on Today to discuss his book and how his life had been going in
the months since he'd previously made headlines.
When Matt Lauer asked Williams why he chose to write such an honest memoir, Williams revealed
that he never lost hope throughout even his darkest days, perhaps meaning that he wanted
to share that message of hope with the world.
Williams also revealed in that interview that, as of the taping, he'd been sober for one
full year and had hired a brand new team of "good people" that would have his best interests in mind.
Williams also admitted that he still struggled, but was taking things, quote, "one day at a time."
Ted Williams' troubles were far from over after he got sober.
In 2014, almost four years after "The Man with the Golden Voice" video went viral, Williams
sat down for an interview with The Columbus Dispatch.
Sadly, in this interview, he revealed that he was dealing with serious money problems,
telling the paper,
"Financially, I'm a little under the weather."
Williams went on to explain that poor management and trusting the wrong people were behind
his financial woes.
Williams alleged that one management company "deprived him of residuals," and another set
him up in a nice condo but took a lot of money for it.
The Man with the Golden Voice got even more specific, saying that despite signing a book
advance worth $375,000, he owned nothing.
"I own nothing.
I own nothing.
I don't even have a car right now."
Ted Williams surprised many people when in 2015, he announced he'd be running in the
2016 presidential election as an independent candidate.
Williams first announced his presidential dreams on the Now radio show on WWGH-FM radio
in Marion, Ohio, but reaffirmed his election bid in an interview with USA Today.
Williams explained that he'd be running his campaign based on veterans' rights, fighting
housing discrimination, bettering the school system, improving the job market, and serving
as "a voice for people who are struggling."
Williams said in the interview,
"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."
Brett Witter, the author who helped Williams write his memoir, agreed with The Man with
the Golden Voice's assertion that he was made for something special.
Witter told USA Today,
"[Ted's] been in some low places, and he's known a lot of people who have struggled [...] That's
definitely a different perspective from other presidential aspirants."
In 2015, Ted Williams lent his voice to a big brand's big commercial.
As per AdAge, The Man with the Golden Voice's iconic pipes were used in Pepsi's newest version
of their "Joy of Pepsi" campaign when, at the beginning of the commercial, he said,
"Alright everybody, if this doesn't get your toes tappin', then check your pulse."
The advertisement wasn't just big for Pepsi; it was also big for Williams.
This was the first commercial he'd ever done for Pepsi, and, considering how widely the
video played and the fact that it aired during the Super Bowl, he probably made a fair chunk of change.
Ted Williams escaped disaster in 2016, when, according to the Daily Mail, his former manager
reportedly asked him to be part of a drug smuggling plot.
As Williams told the publication, ex-manager Alfred Battle told Williams about a "gig"
in Ethiopia for which he'd be paid about $10,000 and would be, quote, "treated like a king."
Williams ended up being very glad he said no.
According to the Daily Mail, Battle was arrested on his way back from Ethiopia because officers
from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection noticed that his bag was unusually heavy and had a fake bottom.
It turned out Battle was allegedly smuggling about $512,000 worth of heroin.
Despite the alleged crimes, The Man with the Golden Voice still holds his ex-manager in
his thoughts and prayers, revealing,
"I'm angry and sad at the same time.
I'll pray for him."
As he told The Columbus Dispatch, Ted Williams had almost always wanted to work in radio.
That's why, after a long journey of highs and very low lows, Williams was overjoyed
to get back on the airwaves in 2016.
In an update on his life also done by The Columbus Dispatch, fans learned that The Man
with the Golden Voice got a gig co-hosting a radio show on WVKO-AM's "The Praise" radio station.
His show, titled "The Golden Voice Show," was a bit talk radio and a bit gospel music.
Interestingly, WVKO was the same Columbus, Ohio radio station where Williams got his
first announcer job back in the 1980s.
Additionally, this new gig was actually Williams' very first steady job since 1993.
Were his employers nervous about hiring him back because of his checkered past? Not at all.
As WVKO general manager Mel Griffin told The Columbus Dispatch,
"We teach and preach about giving second chances.
Sometimes we're given third and fourth and fifth chances."
And Williams wasn't squandering his extra chances, as he confirmed that he'd been clean
since August of 2011.
The Man with the Golden Voice also has a golden heart.
Ted Williams is committed to giving back to the homeless community he was once part of.
According to a 2016 interview with Oprah: Where Are They Now, Williams frequently volunteers
at homeless shelters like Friends of the Homeless, which is one he used to frequent.
Williams recalled in the interview,
"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."
Williams is also helping the homeless in another way - giving out clean socks.
Williams told Good News Center,
"There's nothing worse than being incarcerated and not having socks, let alone being bothered
by the elements.
So I go out and I give packages of socks."
Believe it or not, Ted Williams is the father to nine amazing children: two boys and seven girls.
Additionally, Williams also has 16 grandkids.
It couldn't have been easy for Williams' children to see him living on the streets and in the
throes of substance abuse, which is why it makes sense that they had strained relationships.
A prime example would be the time Williams was arrested in Los Angeles because he had
a heated altercation with one of his daughters.
But, like so many other parts of his life, Williams was able to turn things around.
In a 2012 appearance on Today, Williams told Matt Lauer:
"I just walked my daughter down the aisle on May 4th.
Now she's married and I was able to be a part of that."
Later, in 2021, Williams explained on the Tamron Hall Show,
"My kids and I, we've all pretty much gotten ourselves back together."
Ted Williams appeared on The Tamron Hall Show in January of 2021, about 10 years after his
initial viral video.
This interview led to a few sad revelations, including that Williams is once again homeless.
Williams revealed in the interview,
"I haven't had a place to call my own since 2014."
Despite not having a place to call his own, Williams is not out on the streets.
He's living with his friend Mark Henderson, and is still hoping, quote, "things have another turn around."
Williams also confirmed to Hall that he's still sober and hasn't had a relapse since 2011.
From achieving his childhood dream of becoming a radio DJ to losing it all to drugs and homelessness
- and then winning it all back just to lose it again - no one can argue that Ted Williams
hasn't lived one heck of a life.
But does he regret it?
When the Man with the Golden Voice appeared on the Tamron Hall Show in 2021, Hall asked
him if he wished he'd never gone viral.
Williams replied, "At times I do."
Who can blame him?
With fame and fortune come a lot of other problems, like the fact that, as he also revealed
during that interview, that Williams is once again homeless.
However, just because Williams might have regrets in dark moments doesn't mean he's not grateful.
Williams has said again and again how thankful he is for his blessings and how he could never
have imagined the way things turned out.
Notably he'd previously told NBC News,
"[When I was homeless], I didn't think anything of getting a blessing of this magnitude."
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