CALUM ON GEORGE BEST: Yes, he was an icon. But he was also my dad who’d disappear on huge benders BIANCA ON PAUL GASCOIGNE: It broke my heart to see how alcohol took hold of him

Children of two football legends team up to fight for families whose lives are blighted by booze

AFEW months ago a tenyear-old boy secretly contacted TV personality Calum Best with a problem. ‘ He was struggling at home with a father who was drinking too much,’ says Calum. The boy didn’t know where to turn but noted with polite understatement that Calum, son of the late football legend and alcoholic George Best, ‘had been through something similar’. Could he help?

Calum urged the boy to speak to someone close, someone he could trust. He stressed that he should explain exactly how he felt.

‘A month later the boy wrote back via Instagram to say he had talked to an uncle, his father’s brother,’ says Calum. ‘He said it did the trick because now if his Dad went to the pub he always came home early.’

Everyone knows a little of Calum’s own story: the licentious young man who appeared to be on the same self-destructive trajectory as his gifted but cursed father. Few know, however, of the work Calum, 37, has been doing for more than a decade to help the children of alcoholics. By his own admission, Calum

I also drank too much – but unlike George I’ve survived

took too many drugs, drank too much and tumbled out of too many nightclubs, particularly after his father died in 2005 of multiple organ failure following many years of heavy drinking. But unlike his father he ‘came out the other side’.

He says: ‘I’m no guru, but if I can help I will, every time. In fact, in a weird way, I feel it is my duty. It was lovely being in a position to offer that little boy some advice, even if it was just in a small way.’

Sitting next to him on a sofa as we talk in a London hotel is model Bianca Gascoigne, 31, whose mother Sheryl’s turbulent relationship with former England football star and alcoholic Paul Gascoigne, whom she married in 1996, was chronicled at every turn.

Bianca was still at school when the couple split. While the nation laughed along with Gazza’s antics and marvelled at his outrageous skill, she witnessed at first hand how he was brought low by his is demons, how hi s alcoholism came close to destroying her family. Of her father, she says now: ‘ I love him dearly but it broke my heart seeing the e way the disease conntrolled him.’

Calum and Bianca ca are old friends. Both rode the reality TV carousel, appearing together in Love Island, in which 12 single cel ebrit i es s pend f i ve weeks together. But the pair are here talking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday because they are preparing for what they describe as a far more ‘meaningful challenge’. In July t they will attempt, with a team of professional cli climbers but without TV cam cameras, to conquer Mont Blanc – the highest mountain in the Alps. The adventure is in support of Nacoa, the National Association for Children of Alcoholics, of which Calum is a patron and ambassador. ‘ Too many children suffer in silence,’ says Bianca. ‘We hope this challenge will raise awareness of what they are going through and what Nacoa can do to help. Growing up I felt very isolated because I couldn’t really talk about how I really felt. Some people thought I was living this perfect life but I thought to myself, “You don’t understand how I am feeling.”’

Nacoa, based in Bristol, provides a free helpline for everyone affected by a parent’s drinking. ‘The work they do is fantastic,’ says Bianca. ‘I’m planning to offer my services manning the phone lines. It would be a privilege.’ She adds: ‘Like George, my father’s genius came with a price, as is often the way, and I can clearly recall the anguished moments; the sheer unpredictability of living with an alcohol-dependent parent – what he might do and say at any given time. I come from a loving family, but not every kid has the opportunity to confide in someone.’

Last week t he Government unveiled a £6 million package of measures to help the estimated 200,000 children living with alco-

holic parents. ‘It’s good that people are waking up to this problem,’ says Calum. ‘For too long now it has caused misery, but much can be done to help kids – simply listening to them being the biggest one.’

The legendary Brazilian footballer Pele once called George Best the greatest ever player. Rarely a day passes when Calum is not reminded of his father’s extravagant talents. Some reproach him, though, for even mentioning his father’s alcoholism. ‘I am his biggest fan and the first to sing his praises, but was I supposed to struggle as a kid just because he was an icon? It wasn’t just about football for me, it was about having a dad, and my dad was alcohol-dependent. Some people, mostly men, say that he was a football icon, end of story, and that I shouldn’t talk about his drinking.’

At an early age, Calum’s mother Angie Best shielded him from the worst excesses of his father’s drinking by moving to Los Angeles.

But he clearly recalls excitedly visiting England as a teenager to meet his father, who, he was always assured by his friends, couldn’t wait to see him.

‘We were supposed to be bonding but he would disappear on these massive benders and I wouldn’t see him. It was very sad and confusing for me at the time but I now know that it was his illness telling him, “Come with me, it’s the better option.” ’

Over t he years, Calum, who returned to England permanently when he was 21, learned to suppress his feelings, something he recognises had damaging repercussions. Now he travels the country giving talks, offering advice where he can, but mainly listening to the stories of children whose lives, like his, have been blighted by alcohol.

‘ I realise that not expressing thoughts and feelings very nearly screwed me up completely.

‘When my dad passed away, bless him, I didn’t know how to cope with it. There was no family around, there was no one to talk to.

‘I masked my pain by going out getting drunk, and that went on for two or three years. At the end, I thought to myself, “What the hell has just happened?”

‘Don’t get me wrong, I had a good time doing those things but it wasn’t doing my soul or business or health any good. I was wallowing in a ball of self-pity. Look, I want to stress this is not a sob story from Bianca and me, it’s not a woe is us thing. Our lives are very blessed.

‘ More than anything we want people who are suffering to find the courage to pick up a phone and talk. The irony is that while I preach the virtues of letting it out, I still struggle to talk about what I went through myself.

‘I know the best advice I can give is to tell a young adult or kid if they are struggling with an alcoholic parent to see someone or talk to someone they trust. But I get anxious even sitting here now talking about it, so I know it’s not easy.

‘My dad used to say that alcohol affects people from all walks of life. All Bianca and I can say is here’s a hotline, here’s a bit of advice because we’ve been through it, and we wish you all the best. Give it a go.’

Bianca is much less inclined to express her feelings publicly. Her situation, of course, is all the more sensitive as her father is still alive.

She says: ‘I was shielded from a lot of it, but it was still very upsetting. But living through it has made me stronger, able to tackle anything. It’s the worst disease, alcoholism, and destroys families. Hopefully t his challenge will increase awareness of what children all over the country are going through.

‘I want to do all I can to help. For me this is all about being positive and moving forward. Calum has always been a great support and we know that, if needed, we are there for each other. As a child you feel very much alone but don’t know any different. It’s hard with our situation because it was very much in the public eye.’

Of their Mont Blanc adventure she says: ‘I like a challenge. This is something close to my heart so it will give me extra drive to push myself. The motto in our family has always been, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”

‘If it helps a few children or a few hundred, it will be worthwhile.’

Calum adds: ‘I like the climbing an obstacle metaphor. We’ve both had that in our lives: this demon. I can picture it now – plunging the Nacoa flag into the summit.’

Both still enjoy a drink, but know their limits. Bianca also knows she will be in floods of tears if she makes it to the top. ‘It will be emotional, but it will be worth it to make my family proud. This is such a good cause.’

Joining Calum and Bianca on the expedition – Raise To The Top – will be ex-Spurs player Jamie O’Hara and former Gladiator star David McIntosh. You can help them raise money via raisetothetop.co.uk

Our family motto is Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

Nacoa (nacoa.org.uk) offers advice and support to children of alcohol-dependent parents. It runs a free hotline on 0800 358 3456.