Former England footballer Paul Gascoigne has spoken candidly about the night he assaulted his ex-wife Cheryl, admitting their marriage was a “mistake”. The 1996 incident occurred at a hotel in Perthshire, where a man headbutted her and pushed her to the ground, resulting in her leaving with her hand bandaged.
After just a year of marriage, Cheryl filed for divorce and the former Tottenham midfielder paid her a £700,000 settlement and monthly maintenance payments of £10,000. Despite their short marriage, she supported him when he was classified under the Mental Health Act in 2008.
In his new book, he sheds light on the violent altercation that made headlines in the Daily Mirror: “Gaza wins over Cheryl Black and Blue”.
The excerpt, serialized in the Daily Mail newspaper, read: “In October 1996, just three months after we were married, rifts between us erupted in a terrible incident that I will regret for the rest of my life. We were resting with our children at the Gleneagles Hotel near Perth.”
“While we were at the restaurant, I started arguing with Cheryl over something stupid. She went upstairs to her room and I followed her and shoved her head against her. Instinctively I pushed her away from me and threw her to the floor.”
“‘No more,’ I told her. When she landed, her hand hurt and she screamed in agony. I knew I had really failed. And once she calmed down, I walked away. There was nothing I could do or say.”
“A few days later, the front page headline of the Daily Mirror read ‘Gaza wins for Cheryl Black and Blue’ and featured a photo of Cheryl with her arm in a sling outside a hotel.
“It’s no surprise that Cheryl’s recollection of what happened is very different from my recollection. In any case, I will always regret the pain I caused Cheryl that night, and many will believe that what happened next was entirely my fault.”
Mr Gascoigne also revealed that rival football fans regularly chanted “wife beaters, wife beaters” at the time of the report. He confessed that it cast a “dark shadow” over his life and that the two “despite a brief reconciliation, were never the same.”
He also admitted that he developed regrets while exchanging vows and feels the marriage was a mistake. Gascoigne added: “In July 1996, the month after I was part of the England squad that lost to Germany at the Euros, Cheryl and I had a lavish wedding at Hanbury Manor in Hertfordshire.
“It cost £150,000, which was a lot of money at the time, but we paid for it all with the rights we sold to Hello! magazine.
“It was terrifying to confront Sherrill at the altar in the chapel in front of all my family and friends, including my England team-mates David Seaman, Paul Ince, Chris Waddle and Ian Wright, and friends Danny Baker and Chris Evans.
“The moment we swore our vows to each other, I knew I had made a mistake. I immediately felt trapped, but it was too late. I had no choice but to make the best of the situation and put on a brave face.”
