Controversial TV personality Sam Newman confesses he was once so broke he couldn't afford to keep the power on and had to sit at home in the dark

Controversial television personality Sam Newman has revealed he was once so broke he couldn't afford to pay his electricity bills and was forced to sit at home in the dark.

The AFL great's television career came crashing down in the late 1980s when he lost his hosting job following the cancellation of his show World Of Sport.  

Newman said he was 'stone motherless broke' and struggling to pay his bills after making a bad business decision shortly after the show was scrapped.   

'I became destitute. I remember sitting in my house with the power turned off because I couldn't pay the bill,' Newman told the Herald Sun podcast this week. 

The 74-year-old said his saving grace was reading a 'full-on' interview with Cher in Playboy magazine, sparking an idea to write a regular column for the Herald Sun. 

Newman said he was 'stone motherless broke' and struggling to pay his bills after making a bad business decision when he lost his hosting job on World Of Sport in 1987 

Newman also revealed that his controversial demeanour on the Footy Show had previously landed him in trouble with Channel Nine bosses 

'I thought, wow. It was a question and answer thing. I rang my friend up, Dermott Brereton, and I said would you do this with me, and I took it to the Sun (and editor) Colin Duck,' he said. 

Newman was paid a few hundred dollars for the article, and went on to write hundreds more pieces for the Melbourne-based News Corp publication.

'I don't make too many decisions which I regret. Although I've been stone motherless broke because I made a bad decision to back someone in a business at the bank, I became not bankrupt but destitute,' he said. 

Newman said he isn't ashamed to admit that his close friends organised a benefit to help him get back on his feet.

Newman made headlines in June after calling George Floyd, a key figure in the Black Lives Matter movement, a 'piece of s**t'.    

The former Geelong player appeared on the Sacked: Showbiz podcast on Tuesday, saying he had become accustomed to being criticised for his controversial remarks.

'The cancel culture kicked in and I got cancelled. The sponsors got a bit edgy... and I said if you want me to disassociate myself then I'm happy to do that,' he told the podcast.

Newman also revealed that his controversial demeanour on the Footy Show had previously landed him in trouble with Channel Nine bosses.

The 74-year-old said his saving grace was reading a 'full-on' interview with Cher in Playboy magazine, sparking an idea to write a regular column for the Herald Sun 

Newman made headlines in June after calling George Floyd, a key figure in the Black Lives Matter movement, a 'piece of s**t'. Pictured wearing black face on the Footy Show in 1999  

'I know once they did say to me, and I can tell you this, after I'd done something... 

'They said look, the Broadcasting Tribunal have given us a warning and said that if I do anything else again they will actually cancel the licence,' Newman explained. 

The TV personality said he was then asked to pre-record the show and almost quit in disgust.

'And they said what we would like to do is tape the show and pre-tape it and put it to air,' he explained. 

'I said mate that's fine, if you tape the show I'm out.'

Newman said he had been warned numerous times to be careful because of his edgy humour and labelled himself the 'most polarising figure in Australia'. 

'They want you to be as edgy as possible, because it's all predicated on ratings, but they don't want you to go too far so it's frowned upon by people who give out the licences,' he explained.