By Allan Lengel

It’s certainly understandable that ex-Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich would be under a lot of stress. His travails began in  2008 when he was arrested on a number of public corruption charges. Since then, it’s been all down hill.

He was removed from office, and he faced two high-profile, highly-stressful public corruption trials.  Then earlier this month, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Apparently, all the pressure has gotten to him.

Michael Sneed of the Chicago Sun-Times reports that Blago has become addicted to alcohol.

“Rod can’t sleep without drinking,” a source told Sneed. “So he drinks himself into a condition to do so, and it became an addiction. Considering what he has been through for the past few years, it became a problem. He’s not addicted to sleeping pills or anything like that.”

The Sun-Times reports that the sentencing judge has recommended that the chatty ex-governor go to a prison rehab program.