Brett Favre says his rock-bottom moment came right after winning the Super Bowl in 1997 ... admitting his addiction to painkillers nearly cost him his life.
The NFL Hall of Famer opened up on his battle with pills on "Bolling With Favre" on PodcastOne with guest Dr. Phil this week ... saying he first got addicted in 1994 after suffering an injury.
Favre started taking 2 pills a day ... which led to teammates helping get him more and more painkillers "to a point where I was basically taking in 2 days, a month's prescription, which is crazy."
Favre says he even suffered 2 seizures due to complications from his increased pill intake in 1995, which forced him to come clean with his addiction.
Despite a 75-day stint in rehab, Favre's addiction didn't end until after winning 3-straight MVP awards AND the Super Bowl in 1997 ... when he "was as low as I could possibly be."
That's the moment he knew he had to kick his addiction for good, saying "I said it's one of two things -- I die, or I flush these pills down the toilet."
"I sat by the toilet for two hours," Favre said. "Eventually, I dumped the pills in the toilet, flushed them and I almost wanted to kill myself because of doing that."
"I could not believe that I've actually done that and I was so mad at myself because now what was I gonna do?"
Favre says he spent the next few months trying to get over the "urge" to take pills ... and thankfully, slowly beat the addiction.