Dimensions
162 x 240 x 31mm
In 1997, Sheryl became the most famous footballer's wife in Britain when lurid stories of physical abuse by her husband Paul Gascoigne became front-page news. However, as the most idolised footballer of his generation, Gazza was untouchable, and the fact that he'd been beating Sheryl up for years was quickly glossed over.
Sheryl divorced Paul two years later, but their story wasn't over. She spent years trying to help him, preventing him from committing suicide, being there for him when he was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and visiting him regularly at the Priory. Last summer, distressed by Paul's OCD behaviour and appalling bulimia, she decided to make one last attempt to save her former husband from alcoholic oblivion. She failed. But she did succeed in saving herself, and her children.
Loving Gazza is the amazing story of love, courage and violence that was Sheryl's life. Unflinching in its detail of physical and mental abuse, it is a moving portrait of what it means to love and live with an addict who is on a mission of self-destruction. In finally voicing her side of the story, Sheryl is not only putting her demons to bed – she is also dispelling the myths about domestic violence and giving hope to the millions of women who are victims of this crime on a daily basis.
