Brandy Halladay, the widow of former Phillies great Roy Halladay, released a statement Wednesday afternoon in response to a report from the National Transportation Safety Board this week which detailed the chemicals in her husband's system at the time of his death and his mindstate toward the end of his life.
"Yesterday's NTSB report on Roy's accident was painful for our family, as it has caused us to relive the worst day of our lives," Brandy Halladay wrote in a statement distributed by the Phillies. "It has reinforced what I have previously stated, that no one is perfect. Most families struggle in some capacity and ours was no exception. We respectfully ask that you not make assumptions or pass judgment. Rather, we encourage you to hug your loved ones and appreciate having them in your lives. As a family, we ask that you allow Roy to rest in peace."
Roy Halladay's father, Harry Leroy Halladay Jr., told the NTSB that he was "concerned that Roy was abusing prescription medications, and that may have played a role in the accident." The autopsy report, which became public in 2018, shows that Halladay had evidence of amphetamine, morphine and an insomnia drug in his system when his personal plane crashed into the Gulf of Mexico on Nov. 7, 2017.
Per the NTSB report, Halladay's father said that "Roy was suffering from anxiety and depression and believes much of [Roy's] stress was due to marital problems. He said that Roy had not been himself for several years."
Halladay left behind wife Brandy and his two sons, Braden and Ryan. Halladay was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame last summer in his first year on the ballot. Brandy touched on his personal struggles during her speech in Cooperstown last summer.
"I think that Roy would want everyone to know that people are not perfect," Brandy said in the Hall of Fame speech. "We are all imperfect and flawed in one way or another. We all struggle, but with hard work, humility and dedication, imperfect people can still have perfect moments. Roy was blessed in his life and in his career to have some perfect moments, but I believe that they were only possible because of the man he strived to be, the teammate that he was and the people that he was so blessed to be on the field with."
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