Dancing on Ice star Regan Gascoigne, who is the son of ex-England footballer Paul and mum Sheryl, watched his dad struggle with alcohol, drug and mental health issues
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Regan Gascoigne is the son of one of England’s greatest ever footballers – his childhood was filled with sadness.
The Dancing on Ice star, who made dad Paul Gascoigne cry after his sensational first performance with pro skating partner Karina Manta, endured a lot during his early years.
The 25-year-old is the son of Gazza and his ex-wife Sheryl Gascoigne and has grew up with older half-siblings Mason and Bianca.
Regan had a fractured upbringing as his footballer father battled his demons – but has said: “The past is the past. He’s my dad, I’ll always love him and he’ll always love me no matter what.”
Paul left the family when Regan was just a baby and in a documentary when Regan was 12, he said: “If I could wish, I’d wish that he would go away from us. He’s probably going to die soon.
“Because he’s the top player doesn’t mean he’s a good dad or good person to be with, does it, really?”
Some childhood weekends were spent at The Priory clinic, where the ex-England star underwent rehab for alcohol, drug and mental health issues.
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Regan Gascoigne)
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“I first realised Dad had a problem with drink when I used to spend weekends in The Priory,” he told The Mirror in November 2019.
“Although that might sound weird, to have spent some of your childhood playing there, we did used to have some funny times.
“I would always play pranks. We have similar traits… OCD being one of them. So I used to mess up his bathroom and bedroom on purpose.
“And we’d move statues and tell people they had come alive.”
Regan watched his father’s life spiral out of control amid near-deadly binges and got through the tough times by concentrating on performing.
He said: “When negative things were happening, performing would distract me from it. Unfortunately, it is a very sad situation, but that is life.
“It has been my life. Every family has problems, unfortunately I have grown up around that, but I don’t dwell on it.”
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Time has been a healer and Regan wants to focus on happier times, saying he is proud of his dad.
Paul has praised Regan’s mum Sheryl for keeping their son on the straight and narrow, telling The Mirror this week: “He’s got a strong mum, she’s strong because she’s obviously been with me.”
And when it comes to Regan following in his dad’s chaotic footsteps, Paul has no worries, saying: “He’s got a good head on his shoulders. He won’t be like me.”
Paul realised that his son wasn’t going to follow in his footsteps at a young age when he swapped football boots for ballet shoes.
“I think Dad didn’t care that I wasn’t following in his footsteps,” said Regan. “He just wanted me to be happy. He wouldn’t force me to do something that I wouldn’t want to do.”
Paul added: “Yeah, he was going to do his dancing lessons in London and I did have a little sly look in and just choked up a little bit watching him dance, seeing how good he was and how much he enjoyed it.
“It got me emotional seeing him enjoying himself. And after seeing videos from Dancing On Ice training that he’s showed me, he’s good, he can win!”
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Regan got off to a flying start last weekend when he topped the Dancing on Ice leaderboard after his first skate.
He was given the highest scores of the series so far, and was also told he’d performed the best week one routine ever on the ITV show.
Regan was surprised by the feedback, and even confessed to making a couple of mistakes during the live routine.
When asked if Regan had an advantage with his dancing, background, Christoper Dean said: “You have got to learn to skate first of all, and that’s the biggest hurdle everybody has to get over. It seems like Regan has managed to learn to skate.”
While fellow judge Ashley Banjo added: “At this point we have seen lots of dancers on the ice, we have seen a lot of people who can skate well, but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anybody who can translate movement into ice skating quite like you.
“We thought we’d seen the best week one ever, and I think you just upped the bar for him.”
*Dancing on Ice airs tonight on ITV at 6pm
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