Continuing on, Gascoigne explained the time that he was nearest to dying: “Two-and-a-half years ago, I’d been on a bender and they got me to Cottonwood [rehab centre] in Arizona, USA. I had the shakes for two days, not too bad, but the third day there was nothing they could do to stop the shakes. I was rushed to hospital, and I heard a doctor on the phone to Cottonwood and he said, ‘This guy is not going to make it, he will die,’ and I said, ‘Please don’t let me die – I need to water the plants back home.’ They were injecting my heart and my lungs to keep me alive.”
It was due to this ordeal that a rumour spread across the country that the star had died, with fans even holding up number eight Gascoigne shirts at football matches in his honour.
The NHS explains that psychosis occurs when people lose some contact with reality. It can involve seeing and hearing things that others cannot, or believing in things that are not actually true- hallucinations and delusions.
Psychosis can be triggered by numerous things including stress and drug misuse, which is what Gascoigne was suffering from at the time of his episode. However, the NHS explains that bipolar disorder can also cause psychosis.