Haha are you messing? It's been a rumour going round for years, ever since he kept being out for months at a time for seemingly innocuous injuries, and was pictured out and about with his mates and going to Celtic games when he supposedly couldn't walk. I was told by a person I know reasonably well who had no reason to lie to me, and who used to play for Everton alongside him. I'm happy to take his information at face value rather than assume it's not true just because you've never heard it before.
Just to be clear, there was no suggestion that he's an alcoholic or anything like that, just that there was a feeling at the club that he didn't take very good care of himself and wasn't always as keen as he could be to get himself fit.