Charlie Wilson (Texas Politician) - "Good Time Charlie"

"Good Time Charlie"

Wilson unashamedly lived an extravagant and flamboyant life. Beginning in his naval years, Wilson enjoyed partying and having nights on the town. Wilson was a self-proclaimed "ladies' man" and the news media reported on his exotic bedroom complete with hot tub and handcuffs where he engaged in romantic affairs. Wilson's "Good Time Charlie" image was first exposed to the public in a Washington Post editorial by Kathleen McLean in 1978. Over the course of his congressional career, when reporters questioned Wilson about his constituents' view of their representative, Wilson reported that they knew they were not electing a "constipated monk" to office. Wilson unashamedly embraced his playboy persona and never played down his "Good Time" image in the public.

Wilson's enjoyment of parties led him to invest with two Texas businessmen to open the Elan-Washington Club. This club promised to offer an attractive spot where professionals could get together and relax from a long day at work. To increase the number of club patrons, Wilson passed out memberships to his congressional colleagues. Halfway through his passing out memberships, Wilson decided that his actions might not be deemed ethical by congress and commented that he "was ethicized right out of business."

Throughout the course of his life, Wilson drank heavily, which may have been a factor in his divorce from Jerry. While in Washington Wilson became a functioning drunk and suffered from severe bouts of depression and insomnia, and his drinking intensified during his involvement in Afghanistan. Wilson's drunkenness also led to a scandal in 1980 when an eyewitness reported that Wilson's Lincoln Continental hit a Mazda in a hit-and-run accident on the Washington DC's Key Bridge the night before his first trip to Pakistan. Although never convicted, this accident illustrates Wilson's recklessness with alcohol during his involvement in Afghanistan.

During one of his foreign excursions Wilson was transported to a hospital in Germany where doctors told Wilson his heart was failing due to his excessive drinking. Wilson sought a second and third opinion at hospitals in Bethesda and Houston and the German doctors' conclusions were confirmed: Wilson had to stop drinking. After these diagnoses Wilson quit drinking hard liquor but continued to drink wine for several years. His excessive drinking and associated heart problems forced Wilson to have a heart transplant in September 2007. Despite his continuous struggle with alcoholism, Wilson finally quit drinking after marrying Barbara Alberstadt, a former ballerina, in 1999.

In addition to alcohol abuse, Wilson allegedly used illegal drugs. In 1980, Wilson was accused of using cocaine at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas; however, the investigation by Justice Department attorney Rudolph Giuliani was dropped due to lack of evidence. Liz Wickersham told investigators that she saw Charlie use cocaine only once in the Cayman Islands, however this was outside United States jurisdiction. In "The Charlie Wilson Real Story" Wilson reveals he traveled to Las Vegas in the summer of 1980, and recalls an experience with two strippers in a hot tub.

The girls had cocaine, and the music was loud. It was total happiness. And both of them had ten long, red fingernails with an endless supply of beautiful white powder.... The feds spent a million bucks trying to figure out whether, when those fingernails passed under my nose, did I inhale or exhale, and I ain't telling. — Charlie Wilson

When questioned about his past alleged cocaine use in 2007 Wilson reaffirmed "Nobody knows the answer to that and I ain't telling".

Wilson was also a lifelong romantic and continuously surrounded himself with gorgeous women. In addition to his "Angels" in the office, Wilson always had a female escort when he was not on the House floor. Wilson's primary motivator to be on the Kennedy Center Committee was so he always had a place to take a date. Also, following his second trip to Pakistan, Wilson always brought a female companion with him. At one point he even brought Carol Shannon to entertain his hosts with her belly dancing ability. Bringing women to Pakistan created tension between Wilson and the CIA in 1987 when the agency refused to fund his girl friend's travel expenses. In response, Wilson cut the agency's funding the next year. Wilson's exotic bedroom is indicative of his enjoyment of women, but his relationships were not just about sex. According to Joanne Herring, Wilson truly cared about his dates and he thoroughly enjoyed being a romantic. Although he was an "unapologetic sexist, chauvinistic redneck," he attracted many gorgeous ladies and treated them well.

Wilson has been said to have lived life as "one big party", and lived by the mantra that he could "take his job seriously without taking himself seriously."