'American Idol' Sensation William Hung Breaks Silence On Gambling Addiction

William Hung, who is best known for his 2004 'American Idol' audition singing Ricky Martin's 'She Bangs', is opening up about life after that viral appearance.

Hung, who was 20 years old at the time, auditioned for the reality competition show during its third season, when Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, and Simon Cowell were still the three judges. Hung began singing 'She Bangs', a hit song by Ricky Martin, but he was extremely off-key, and his dance moves were, well, memorable, to say the least.

Although he did not make it through to Hollywood (for obvious reasons), he still made a name for himself, going on to record his very own album, 'Inspiration'.

"I had my moment at the top," Hung told PEOPLE of his music career. "My first album, 'Inspiration', was the No. 1 independent album on the Billboard charts."

Following his 'American Idol' fame and his number-one album, Hung went on to earn a degree and MBA in mathematics, and he got a job at the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department as a statistical analyst.

However, he decided this was not what he wanted to do with his life, and instead, he went on to become a professional poker player.

While he was pursuing a career as a professional poker player, William Hung admitted to developing a gambling addiction.

"I quit my job three years ago and became a professional poker player," Hung told the outlet. "I'd been doing it on the side for a while, and I decided maybe I was good enough to go for it. I was earning way more doing that than I was at my regular job. It was going well for a while."

But that is when things took a turn. "Unfortunately, I developed a gambling addiction," he continued. "I knew I was good at poker, but then I got greedy. I got into sports betting. The whole gamut. I know better [now]. I wasn't supposed to do those things, but I did it anyway."

Because of his addiction, Hung ended up getting divorced, which had taught him to "be smart about which risks I chose to take."

Following his divorce, and after he recognized he had an unhealthy dependency on gambling, Hung wrote a letter addressing his addiction as part of a coping mechanism and as a way to move forward.

"Things went downhill fast when my ex-wife found out about you," he wrote in a post on LinkedIn. "I came home from work one day, and she started asking me all these questions about why I was so nervous about every sports game and why I was always tired ... How do you think that went — with all of the money I could have used to improve our life — gone? I'll give you a hint: it ended with her asking for a divorce."

Hung has since gotten remarried, to his third wife, Hannah, and has returned to his old profession as a statistical analyst for the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department.