Steve Phillips, the former ESPN baseball analyst and New York Mets general manager, said Monday that he knew he had a sex addiction problem in August — two months before he was fired from his role with the network.

“What I want to do is take ownership,” he said in an interview with Matt Lauer on NBC’s Today Show. “I made some mistakes … I’m fully responsible for what I did.”

Phillips spoke publicly for the first time since he left the Pine Grove Behavioral Health and Addiction Services clinic in Hattiesburg, Miss., the same clinic golfer Tiger Woods reportedly attended.

Phillips didn’t talk extensively about his time at Pine Grove, but did say that it is a place for people who are “broken” and “struggling to find answers.”

Phillips said he realized he had a sexual addiction problem in August, while he was having an affair with ESPN production assistant Brooke Hundley. That affair eventually included Hundley contacting Phillips’ wife at their home. It made its way to the New York tabloids, where Phillips was front-page fodder, in October.

“I recognized in August, I needed help,” Phillips said. “I started calling facilities.”

He said he had made the decision on Friday, Oct. 23, 2009, to attend the sexual addiction clinic. He was fired by ESPN two days later. Hundley was also let go by ESPN.

At the time, a representative for Phillips said he was entering a treatment facility “to address his personal issues.”

“I couldn’t stop myself from doing the things I was doing, even knowing the consequences,” Phillips told Lauer on Monday.

A month earlier, Phillips wife, Marni, had filed for divorce. The couple had been married for 19 years. He has four children.

He said he has returned to his home, but doesn’t know if his marriage can be saved. He declined to say if he had anything to tell Hundley.

“All of that is in the past,” he said. “My focus is moving forward, trying to save my family.”

Hundley, in a taped piece that preceded the Phillips interview, said that she was “young” and had made mistakes as well.

Phillips was the general manager of the Mets from 1997-2003. He said during that time, while taking a leave of absence from the team after a sexual harassment allegation, he had counseling locally for sexual issues, but didn’t enter a treatment facility.

He worked at ESPN from 2005 through October.

Analyst Steve Phillips has been suspended by ESPN for his affair. The late last night, Mike Soltys from ESPN sent out a tweet on Twitter that said:

“Steve Phillips is no longer working for ESPN. His ability to be an effective rep of ESPN has been significantly & irreparably damaged,” said Mike Soltys from ESPN.

Steve Phillips is married to Marni Phillips and the two have four kids. She filed for divorce September 14th.

the left is the face of the woman that tore a Steve family apart. You are looking at a photo of the woman you’ve been searching for, 22-year-old Brooke Hundley, a former ESPN intern.

Brooke Hundley is a young girl age of 22 years she was working as a production assistant at ESPN when she began having an affair with married analyst Steve Phillips this summer. Phillips, 46 years old , eventually ended the affair after a series of sexual encounter.However, Hundley decided that their relationship wasn’t quite over. The young woman preceeded to leave a series of phone messages and letters with Phillips family. One letter mentioned incriminating birthmarks on Phillips body, with Hundley writing that Phillips had “a big birthmark on his crotch . . . and one on his left inner thigh, so you know I’m not being fake.”

Acknowledging the relationship in a statement, Phillips said:

“I am deeply sorry that I have put my family and colleagues through this. It is a personal matter that I will not comment on further. I have, however, asked for a leave of absence to address this with my family and to avoid unnecessary distractions.”

Steve Phillips, ESPN analyst, is on the news today after it was discovered he was having an affair with Brooke Hundley, a 22-year-old production assistant.

Hundley, 22 who was upset about the break-up called his wife, Marni Phillips and sent her a letter telling her about the affair. Hundley also contacted Phillips sons through Facebook and asked inappropriate questions. Hundley also crashed into a pillar outside the Phillips’ home after leaving the letter.

Steve Phillips, 46 the former Mets general manager recently ended an affair with ESPN analyst Brooke Hundley. Hundley, 22 who also worked at ESPN was upset about the break-up began a series of acts to draw attention to the fact that she was having the affair with Phillips.

Brooke Hundley called Marni Phillips (his wife) several times and said she had information about her husband, and sent a letter explaining the affair. Hundley contacted Phillips’ sons through Facebook and asked very inappropriate questions. Hundley also crashed into a pillar outside the Phillips’ home after leaving the letter.

Marni has filed for divorce, and Phillips who is currently a baseball analyst was suspended by ESPN for a week, according to the New York Post.

he New York Post has a copy of the letter Hundley sent to Marni Phillips, copies of statements made to police by Steve and Marni Phillips, and a statement from their teenage son.