Paul Gascoigne says he's now able to control his drinking
Paul Gascoigne says he is now able to control his drinking, following a long battle with alcoholism.
The 53-year-old football legend told The Sun he is able to indulge in a glass of wine or a few beers in the evening, but confessed he still stays clear of spirits.
“I’ll always be an alcoholic, but now I can have a couple of glasses of wine — and I have a few beers. Not every day, but when I want to," he said.
Read more: Gascoigne blames Piers Morgan for burglary at his home
"If I want a drink I’ll have a drink," the star added. "If I don’t want one I’ll just leave it, which is not the right thing, but I’ve been like that for ages."
Gascoigne said he is "on top of things at the moment" and "enjoying life".
Gascoigne is set to appear in the latest series of Italian reality TV show L’Isola del Famosi (Island Of The Famous), which is similar to I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here and Survivor.
The show is due to film in Honduras next month, with a former Miss Italy among the contestants.
Read more: Gascoigne reveals he died during rehab treatment
Gascoigne elected to do the show — he's famous in Italy due to his tenure at Serie A team Lazio in the mid-1990s — after he was turned down for a spell in the jungle with the British I'm a Celebrity.
“They wanted to sign me for the show, but when it came to speaking to the psychiatrist they really p***ed me off," he said.
“She asked me: ‘Why do you want to do the show?’ and I said: ‘I want people to see the real Paul Gascoigne’.
“But she said: ‘People don’t want to see that, they want to see you in arguments’. That really p***ed me off. I wasn’t happy about that."
Gascoigne said he spends most of his time now in his flat in Bournemouth, having vowed to keep himself away from temptations and prevent himself getting "carried away".
He said that he has put his tabloid-bating days behind him, particularly as consequences can be so much more acute in a world in which everyone is connected.
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He added: "These days there’s no hiding — there are camera phones everywhere, so all I can do is be myself.
“I’m not perfect, but if I keep things this way then I know that anything that goes wrong is on me. It will be my own fault, and I’ll have to deal with it.”
Watch: Gascoigne cries on Good Morning Britain after "year of hell"
