WASHINGTON – Former NFL quarterback Brett Favre has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, he told a congressional committee Tuesday.
Favre made the statements as part of his testimony about a welfare abuse scandal in Mississippi. Favre, who has not been criminally charged, has repaid just over $1 million in speaking fees funded by a state welfare program. He was also an investor in a biotechnology company with ties to the case. The biotechnology company has said it is developing concussion drugs.
The former football star told the committee that he had lost his investment in the company “that I believed was developing a breakthrough concussion drug that I thought would help others.”
“I’m sure you’ll understand that although it’s too late for me – I was recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s – this is a cause that’s very close to my heart,” Favre said.
The causes of Parkinson’s disease are unknown, and it’s unclear whether Favre’s illness is related to his football career or head injuries. He said in 2022 that he estimated he suffered “thousands” of concussions in his two decades in the NFL.
Favre appeared at the hearing of the Republican-led House Budget Committee to advocate for reform of the state’s welfare system to better prevent fraud.
“The challenges my family and I have faced over the past three years – because certain government officials in Mississippi failed to protect federal TANF program funds from fraud and abuse and now wrongly try to blame me for it – have damaged my reputation and are worse than anything I have experienced in football,” Favre said.
House Republicans have said a welfare-spending scandal in Mississippi involving Favre and others highlights the need for reform of the federal Temporary Assistance Program for Needy Families.
Favre said he did not know the payments he received came from social funds, pointing out that his charity has donated millions of dollars to poor children in his home state of Mississippi and in Wisconsin, where he played most of his career with the Green Bay Packers.
