Paul Gascoigne appeared on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Monday morning to talk about his new book while updating viewers on his health after battling depression, OCD and alcoholism.
“Life is good,” Paul Gascoigne told Good Morning Britain in a TV appearance on Monday. The Newcastle United, Tottenham and England legend appeared on ITV’s flagship breakfast show to promote his new book Eight.
And when Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid asked him how he was doing, the 58-year-old replied: “Yeah, I’m fine. Life’s good so far.”
The conversation then turned to Gazza’s long-standing struggle with alcoholism, and Madeley asked how Gazza behaves when under the influence of alcohol. To which Gascoigne replied: “It’s a nightmare. I used to be okay and a happy drunk, but to be fair I’m a really sad drunk now.
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“I can’t drink anymore. But I can go months without drinking, and then I’ll drink for two days, and the result is…I’ll hate myself for a few days. I’ll just be miserable.”
“Then all of a sudden I was at an AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) meeting and I was just listening. You wonder who you are, right? Unfortunately, I didn’t realize I was an alcoholic until I went to my first AA meeting.”
When Mr Reid asked what it was about alcoholism that made him feel like he would never overcome it, Mr Gascoigne added:
“I always think I’ll be fine with one and sometimes it works. I’ll just have two or three and leave them alone. Then maybe a month later I’ll only hit them for two days.
“I used to drink for weeks, but now I only drink for a few days. But that’s really enough for me.”
When asked if it was impossible to give up alcohol completely, Gazza answered: “Not really. I did it for five years, I did it for four years. It’s like anything else.”
“If you sit in the barber shop too long, you’re going to get a haircut. I just wrote this book, Number 8, to help other people. It’s not about football, it’s the same thing I put on myself. (SIC) All I know is that Number 8 was okay for me when I was playing football, but not when I was drinking.”
In her new book, Gazza details the bizarre story of how she and a friend hit a man with their car while driving a group of girls home. In a book serialized in the Daily Mail, Mr Gascoigne said: “Despite my foolish behavior off the pitch, I quickly became one of the most recognizable faces in football and every club in the country wanted me.
“My partner in crime was often my best friend Jimmy Gardiner, or Jimmy Five Belize as I nicknamed him, because he was the same height as me but weighed about 30 stone more. “My first trouble with the police was when Jimmy persuaded me to drive some girls home in my Mini, even though I didn’t have a license yet.
“I ended up knocking over a guy who was crossing the road in front of me. I stopped the car and ran over and I saw him moving. At least I didn’t kill him. But then I panicked and drove away.
“I’m sure I wasn’t thinking straight and I was scared of getting into trouble with Newcastle United. I know I shouldn’t have done it, but when I got the snooker signal I decided to pretend someone else was driving and broke the window of the car.
“But when the police tracked me down, that wasn’t acceptable. Me and Jimmy had to go to court over it. I was fined and had demerit points added to my licence, even though I didn’t have a license yet.”
Paul Gascoigne Eight (published by Reach Sport) is on sale October 23rd – get your copy here
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