To so many now, Rob Ford is known as that “crack-smoking” former mayor of Toronto, with a record of outrageous admissions and sound bites. But to his former chief of staff, it didn’t start out that way.

In his new book co-authored with journalist Johanna Schneller, “Mayor Rob Ford: Uncontrollable,” Mark Towhey says Ford never showed signs of substance abuse in his early days in office.

“The first year I was with him was on the (mayoral) campaign and he was clean and sober. The first year he was in office, he was -- for all I could tell -- clean and sober and did very well,” Towhey told CTV’s Canada AM Friday.

But by the end of 2011 or early 2012, things had changed and Ford’s drinking had started becoming a serious problem.

“I honestly don’t know what it was, whether it was stress or something else we weren’t aware of that sort of tripped him over,” he said.

Though Towhey has been accused of enabling Ford’s addictions, he says he and other staff tried quietly bringing health professionals in to help the mayor, to no avail.

“We recognized the alcohol issue first and tried to manage that,” he said. “
Later on, it was clear it wasn’t just alcohol; it was something else.”

Towhey told Âé¶čŽ«Ăœ Channel that Ford has always been an “eccentric politician,” willing to speak his mind and go against the grain – which is what endeared him to so many voters. But over the three years he worked with him, it was clear Ford was “balancing these demons” of addiction and had a hard time staying focused.

By May, 2013, Towhey was forced to tell the mayor he either had to go into rehab or fire him. Ford chose the latter and Towhey says they have never spoken again.

Most Canadians know what happened next.

By November that year, Ford was openly admitting he had used crack -- “probably in one of my drunken stupors” -- and media outlets were publishing story after story about Ford’s misdeeds.

The media did a good job of uncovering things, Towhey said; in fact, he learned a few things himself that even he didn’t know. But Towhey says he went into a “pretty dark year of depression” after he was fired and struggled with whether he should write a tell-all book, worried he would be accused of exploiting Ford’s personal problems.

“Part of my concern was I felt strongly that I had been in a position of trust and had to keep his confidences, regardless of how horrific some of them were,” Towhey said. “But frankly, a lot of those confidences became public knowledge anyway.”

The resulting book is one that Towhey says will be interesting to Ford fans and detractors alike.

“I think if you don’t like Rob Ford, there’s a lot of stuff in there that will reaffirm your disilke for him,” he said.

“If you do like him though, there’s a lot of stuff in the book that shows he was on the right track for a long time and did, what I would argue, is a lot of good stuff.”

Even now, after all he saw and heard, Towhey says he still believes Ford has an enduring appeal.

“My life would be much easier if I could get angry and just hate this guy, but I can’t,” he said. “He has an inherent likability that’s been the key to his success.”