England football legend Paul Gascoigne has said he is a “sad drunk” living in the spare room of his agent’s house in Dorset.
The 56-year-old, who played for England 57 times, has endured a decades-long public battle with drink and mental health problems which started during his playing career and worsened after his retirement from football in 2004.
In 2020, Gascoigne said he had been able to turn his life around after having anti-alcohol pellets sewn in his stomach which would make him sick if he had a drink.
However, in an interview with the High Performance podcast this week the former Tottenham, Newcastle and Everton midfielder said he is now a “sad drunk” living in a spare room at the home of his agent Katie Davies.
Gascoigne, affectionately known as Gazza, also said he had recently been to an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting.
He said: “I used to be a happy drunk, I ain’t anymore… I’m a sad drunk. I don’t go out and drink, I drink indoors. If I want to make it a bad day, [all I need to do is] go down the pub. If I want it to be a good day, I get my flying rod out and go fishing.
“It’s not the drinking, it’s the afterwards. Looking at my phone after and seeing 30 messages or missed calls, I know I’m in trouble. But I’ve been all right. Last year wasn’t brilliant, was off and on for a couple of months.
“I went to a meeting the other night so that was all right. Just an AA meeting. I went with a friend and that was okay. They’re all right, harmless.”
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Gascoigne also reflected on his playing career and the serious knee injury he suffered playing for Tottenham against Nottingham Forest in the 1991 FA Cup final.
He told the podcast: “People know Paul Gascoigne but Gazza, no one knows, even me sometimes.
“I’ve spent a lot of years being down, when I did my ligaments and then my kneecap, I missed four years of football. I would’ve got 100 caps [for England].
“I try not to get down because the world’s already down enough and when I’m really down, that’s when I pick up a drink to cheer myself up.
“I don’t think I let any managers down, or the players or the fans, you know. If there was anyone I let down, it was myself. But more the drinking side of it, when I finished playing.”
Gascoigne added: “I called Katie [Davies] up in November a few years ago crying my eyes out. What I put myself through and other people – jail and rehab, taking cocaine off toilet seats – and then I’m asked to be ambassador for my country, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.”