How author Brian Cuban overcame drug and alcohol addiction to create his own shadow

The name, and the face, make people stop and Brian made peace with the fact years ago that often times when people reach out the Cuban they may want to talk to, or about, is his brother Mark.

Brian Cuban does not exist in Mark Cuban’s shadow; even if he did, the brother of the owner of the Dallas Mavericks has lived a hell far worse than living in some silhouette.

Like living with a .45 gun on the nightstand, and preparing to use it on yourself because you are so addicted to drugs and alcohol you can’t think of another solution.

Years ago Brian Cuban was a successful attorney with money, and a famous brother whose fame provided access to a fun lifestyle. He was also a mess headed toward tragedy.

“What were the reasons I drank and did blow? I was trying to hide a lot of inner pain. So what you do is project how great things are,” Brian Cuban said in a phone interview. “I partied with a lot of lawyers but we’re telling each other the same thing, ‘My life sucks.’ We’re all putting on masks.

“Blow is fun until it’s not. You think you’re having a great time but you’re not. It’s a haze. My life got into a routine of up all night, drinking and doing blow and then pop Xanax during the day and sleep. Then I’d go to court high or drunk. I’d do cocaine in the bathroom.”

In 2005, his brothers Mark and Jeff came to his house. A friend warned them that their brother was in a bad way.

“I had black market Xanax all over the place,” Brian Cuban said. “They dragged me to rehab.”

Today, Brian Cuban is 60 years old and a recovering addict. He’s also a published author with a new book. This week, Cuban’s new book, “The Ambulance Chaser,” hit Amazon.

This is his third book, and his first time writing fiction.

“The Ambulance Chaser” is not based on a true story, but the author draws heavily on his own experiences to create this novel. The protagonist in the book is a lawyer who struggles with addiction, and the story is set in Pittsburgh.

How Brian Cuban arrived to this point could pass for fiction, but it’s very much fact.

He grew up in Pittsburgh and during his formative years he struggled with weight, and self-esteem issues. He said he was bullied constantly.

He did well in school, and earned his undergraduate degree from Penn State and his law degree from Pittsburgh. It was in law school when he started to lean on alcohol.

He eventually moved to Dallas where he became a practicing attorney.

“It was the summer of 1987, and I was in a downstairs bathroom at the Crescent Hotel in Dallas and it was the first time I did cocaine,” he said. “I remember looking in the mirror, and it was the first time I felt good about myself. I was 26.”

He drank. He used drugs. He had an eating disorder. He went through multiple marriages.

When he was sober, and lucid, he didn’t like himself.

So he took another drink. Or he did another line.

By 2000, Mark Cuban had purchased the Mavericks and was becoming the most visible owner in the NBA.

“People ask me all the time if Mark’s fame caused any of this. I was struggling long before Mark became internationally famous,” he said. “But I could walk into any bar or restaurant I wanted. I could date women half my age, all because of my last name. We all have to form our self identity, so it became easy to be Mark Cuban’s younger brother.”

Despite all of the “fun” none it was working.

He tried rehab once in 2005. He returned in 2007, and it clicked. He has been clean and sober since then.

He has written books, become a public speaker who talks about his own addiction, the need for more of an emphasis on mental health awareness, and an advocate for change in the legal profession.

“If you believe in addiction you never really get over it,” he said. “Do I think about cocaine or alcohol? No, I don’t. I have 14 years of abstinence.”

Last year, he was asked by Pitt’s law school to be its commencement speaker. After the phone conservation ended, he nearly broke down and cried.

“I don’t have regrets and I would not change it,” he said. “The regrets I have are the people I hurt along the way. I have been married three times. The lies and the lies that I told.

“But it all led me to my beautiful wife I have been with for 14 years. My mom and my brothers all survived it, and it all built me to where I am today.

“There is no bright light. For me, I gauge it in terms of I am using what I have been through, my pain, and paying it down the road for someone else. To let others know there is hope; that you can redefine your life. That you can accomplish more than ever dreamed when you are in recovery.”

That is not living in Mark Cuban’s shadow.