I think the problem is that his psyche was already damaged. He had been aggressive and confrontational towards his family for quite awhile. They could not control his outbursts and defiant behaviour once he became a big, strong teenager.
There is no evidence that this is the case. He has said repeatedly (in interviews and on Dopey) that he and Rob never really 'fought' in terms of outbursts or anything like that. They had a strenuous relationship but it wasn't a violatile one. At least it wasn't when he was still in his early 20s.
What if they don't reach that conclusion by themselves? What does a parent do if their child is doing drugs day and night and refusing to go to school or behave at home?
Then they should have cut him off completely. Let him figure it out himself and if he ever gets his head together, then help him. Instead they took a half-assed approach. Send him to clinics on the far side of the country so you don't have to deal with his issue but at the same time keep indulging him. "Ok, you ran away from this one, now we'll send you to another" type of deal. As I said, I think sending him to these therapies instead of dealing with him under close supervision, especially during those developmental years, was the wrong choice (imo) but if you're gonna do that, then go full in. You can't do it middle of the road type of thing. As far as the school part goes, did he actually refuse to go to school or they simply thought that they can just buy a diploma because they're rich? School was of no consequence to them. They could find him a high paying job any time he wanted to.
I think it's possible he was being manipulative. He wasn't just speaking to the podcasters, he was speaking to his audience and to his family. He knew they'd be hearing it. It was a nice Eff You to them, imo.
Only Nick knows but I find no reason not to believe him. He shared pretty embarrassing stories about himself on same podcast and I never felt that he was lying or omitting the truth at any point. He came off as pretty forthcoming in the interview and never seemed like he was making these stories up
They tried that^^^ for years. It didn't work. He had been defiant and aggressive since childhood. He had been under their direct supervision. It was not working.
There's no evidence of that. There's some stories, whether true or not, in which he was acting like a petulant kid, sure. But if that is your benchmark of aggressive probably half of the kids going through adolescence meet that criteria
They hoped that 'experts' would be able to help him because they were failing.
Were they failing? If you believe his story, they never really tried. They just sent him to rehab after that incident with his friend. From then on it was rehab after rehab. They tried to solve his problems with money, not with attention and care he should have gotten. Obviously we don't have a full picture of their family dynamics, but 18 rehab stints by the time you're 19 seems extremely excessive.
Doesn’t his family/siblings have access to money/estate to pay for his legal fees?
They have a very valid reason as to why they wouldn't want to do that.