TV health scare for ex-footie star

be. Given your lifestyle and your family history, we’ve really got to do something quite drastic about that – and I’m talking about medication to protect you.

“If I don’t intervene, you are at a risk of having a heart attack and a stroke.

“Razor, you cannot afford to take this lightly please.” Ruddock, 50, has two daughters aged 11 and eight with wife Leah Newman.

She is left horrified by the news, saying: “It was really shocking in there.

“She basically said he could drop dead at any minute and I’d be on my own with the children. So it’s hit home, what we need to do – and we’ll do it.”

The former England defender lost four stone in the run-up to making the documentary and says that he is ready to make the major changes.

He says: “Men are scared to get bad news. Both my older brothers have got problems. One’s got a stent. It is in my family.

“You think it’ll never happen to you, but it can. I’m happy I’ve seen the doctor.

“It can be resolved, so I’m happy we got there in time.”

Ruddock takes part in the programme along with David Seaman, Robbie Fowler, Mark Wright, Matt le Tissier, Chris Waddle, Rob Lee, Ray Parlour, Lee Sharpe, Mark Chamberlain and Paul Merson, with Redknapp assisted as manager by John Barnes.

Le Tissier, 50, also had a wake-up call over his health thanks to the show. He says: “My body fat levels were dangerous. I was in the red level. That was probably the biggest thing that made me go, ‘I need to change. I need to do something about this’. “That was a little bit scary,” he added. Redknapp gets the 11 to embark on the same healthy eating and fitness regimes used by present-day professional footballers – with surprising results.

Harry’s Heroes: The Full English, is on March 18 and 19, on ITV, at 9pm.

CONCERN Leah Newman with Ruddock