Former Manchester United player Darron Gibson has revealed that he struggled with an addiction to sleeping pills, taking between 12 and 14 tablets a day.
When he finished his career in 2021, the problem worsened. Until one day he had a seizure and ended up in hospital, realising he had to 'cut' his addiction.
- At the time, I wasn't even functioning. I look at pictures from that time and see that I was grey. If I had continued, I would have died. I was taking 12 to 14 sleeping pills every day.
I was taken to hospital but I didn't tell anyone about the pills. Danielle [his wife] knew I was taking them, but she didn't know exactly how many. I was good at hiding the problem .... Sometimes I would take them all at once when we went to bed, telling her I would get her a glass of water.
I'm not ashamed to say now that I was sick, but back then I didn't tell anyone at the hospital. The doctors thought it was epilepsy, but no. It was the pills, I'd been taking them for years," Gibson, 36, told The 42.