Ex-Footballer, Paul Gascoigne Opens Up About His Hellish Year

In August 2018, popular ex-footballer, Paul Gascoigne was accused of sexual assault. He was reported to have kissed a woman on a train.

He has, however, been cleared of all sexual assault charges last week.

This morning, he had an interview on Good Morning Britain, a British television program on ITV,  where he got emotional and spoke about how he coped with the court case without resorting to the use of Alcohol.

Opening up on what really happened to GMB, he said:

“I was on the train and a couple of women wanted some selfies… when I got up, someone next to me said, ‘why do you want a photo with her she’s fat and ugly?’.

“So, I went and sat next to her and said, ’You are not fat and ugly, you are beautiful inside and out. I learned that from treatment centres. I just thought I would give her a bit of confidence. I never thought anything of it. Until I went to the hotel and then got the call, we want to question you.”

Asking if he kissed her as he was accused, he replied

“I pecked her and said you are not fat and ugly.” adding that he did not feel any sexual kind of way towards her, it was just a peck, nothing more.

However, when questioned by the interviewers on where he pecked the woman, he confirmed it was rather on the lips.

He got really scared when he “sat with his lawyers” and they informed him of the gravity of the allegation.

Speaking on how he stood strong through it all, he broke down in tears and said:

“I could have easily took the easy way out and took to drinking and not bothered about it. I stayed strong through it, you know, I took up some fishing, I’ve got my new manager Katie, she’s been fantastic. And I just talked to counsellors.… I used the tools…keeping myself busy.

“Then it gets hard when you walk around the streets and you have people saying we’re on your side, you know, the more people were on my side… I think I spent the whole year telling people I did nothing wrong.”

Paul Gascoigne has battled with alcohol addiction in the past and is now 6 months sober, therefore, he had to be strong to stay off alcohol through this period.

Speaking about how the incident has changed him, he confirms he is still the same person, however, he is more conscious of the people around him now as not everyone can be trusted.