Exclusive: A Family's Struggle

On January 30th, 2007, Garrett and Britt Reid, the two oldest sons of Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid and his wife Tammy, were arrested in separate driving incidents. Police found drugs in the car of Garrett, 23, a student at Montgomery County Community College, after he had an accident. Britt, 21, also attending MCCC, was held on drug and weapon offenses after allegedly pointing a gun at another motorist. Thus began a media firestorm and a bizarre year for the Reids. Andy and Tammy Reid had said nothing publicly about the events until they agreed to meet with Philadelphia features editor Robert Huber for an interview. The Reids were limited in what they could discuss because of possible upcoming legal action; their lawyer, Paul Rosen, was present. But sitting in the living room of their Main Line home, the Reids spoke openly for two hours about their family’s battle with addiction.

Philadelphia magazine: First, how are Garrett and Britt doing now?

Andy Reid: They’re doing well. Obviously, they’re incarcerated at this time, but they’re working through it and handling themselves the right way, doing what they’re supposed to do at the facility here in Montgomery County. We talk to them — they can call us, we can’t call them. And we can visit them twice a week. Although one day happens to be Sunday [when the Eagles play].

PM: I’d like to go back to the day they were arrested — I think you were on the West Coast.

Andy: At the end of every season, Tam and I take a vacation, and we’ve done that for a number of years, just to kind of regroup as a couple — the seasons are long. We had taken a trip to Los Angeles, where I’m from. The third day in L.A., I got a text message from [former Eagles tight end] Chad Lewis. He said, “Our thoughts and prayers are with you.” We just thought, that’s kind of weird. A couple hours later, I got a call from my head of security that one of the boys had been in an accident. It was Garrett. We hopped on an airplane right away and came back.

PM: It emerged at Garrett’s sentencing hearing in November that he’s had issues with drugs for some time.

Andy: It’s been an ongoing struggle that we’ve dealt with, with Garrett.

PM: When did his drug use begin?

Andy: We kind of found out late, when he was actually going through the withdrawal process. He was trying to get himself off drugs — he’d been using OxyContin.

Tammy Reid: It was the summer after his freshman year at BYU, in 2002.