When HBO’s “Real Sports” first profiled Lenny Dykstra a year ago, he seemed to be on top of the world. He’d sold his three car washes for $55 million, had his own private jet, had bought an $18.5 million house outside of Los Angeles from Wayne Gretzky, and was in the process of creating The Players Club, a magazine exclusively for professional athletes.
In tonight’s episode, at 10 p.m. on HBO, the show takes a look at Dykstra a year later and finds him in a much different financial state. The jet is grounded in Cleveland, the house is in foreclosure, and Dykstra has been sued at least 20 times by former business associates.
“Real Sports” interviewed six people for the story, including the Post’s Kevin Coughlin, and they claimed Dykstra owed them nearly $700,000.
“He’s very charming at first,” Coughlin, a former photo editor for The Players Club who wrote an article in April’s issue of GQ Magazine detailing his time working for Dykstra, said during the episode. “He tells you what you want to hear. You believe him at first … you want to believe him.
“But when the final payday comes, it doesn’t come.”
Dykstra’s former personal assistant, Samantha Kulchar, whom Dykstra owes $7,400 after losing a lawsuit she filed against him, detailed how she spent her time working for him.
“I’d say about 90 percent of my day was spent on the phone, consoling people who were owed money,” she said. “Jet company owners, printing companies, people trying to put food on the table, landscapers … it was all day, every day. I’d get calls at 6 a.m. screaming at me, cursing at me.”
When “Real Sports” went to meet with Dykstra at his mansion, where he still lives and told them he’d be, the front door was unlocked but Dykstra wasn’t there. When they went inside, the house was barren of any furniture.
After finally meeting with Dykstra and detailing the claims against him, the former Mets outfielder defiantly shot each one down.
“Listen, they all think they can come here and steal my money … they ain’t stealin’ my money. I don’t owe anybody anything,” he said.
According to documents obtained by the show, Dykstra has weeks before the loan company will foreclose on his home, and his wife of 23 years, Terri, has filed for divorce.
But Dykstra, who has filed lawsuits himself against various creditors, remained confident he would find a way to come out on top in the end.
“I say they’re out of their (expletive) minds,” Dykstra said. “Everything I do, OK, I do for a reason. I told you I’m not that smart of a guy, but somehow, someway, I always find a way to get lucky.”