Paul Gascoigne has said that he never feared the media, but claims that lies throughout his career have cost him a significant amount of money.
In a lengthy interview with the author Rob Moore, the former England star said that inaccurate reports of him being unwell or in rehab abroad led to planned work being cancelled.
Gascogine, 55, also recalled how a woman almost fainted as he walked past her because there was a story in a newspaper that he had passed away.
"I remember walking up the high street once and a woman looked at us and sort of nearly fainted. I said 'are you alright?' And she said, 'Yeah, it's been in the newspapers that you died yesterday.' I went, 'Do I look dead?' So I went and looked and there it is, 'Gazza's dead'. F***ing hell.
He added: "My phone never stops, I've changed my number 55,000 times. They were hounding us all the time and wouldn't leave us alone. They followed me everywhere I went, hacked my phone. I've just won more damages from them.
"About four, three years ago there were two photographers sitting outside my house 24/7 and the police wouldn't even help us. They would leave a drink outside my door and I'd pick it up, put it in the bin and they were hiding in the bushes to take photos.
"'Gazza's drinking again,' which wasn't true. And I lose work through it. I went and put an injunction in. Some of the stuff they were writing would upset me mam and dad as well.”
Asked which lie was the worst, Gascoigne said: "I had this job for £30,000 and I was sitting ready to do this job. About an hour later I was thinking, 'Where's this guy?' I ring him up and say 'Where are you mate, you were supposed to be here an hour ago?'
"He said: 'Oh, I just read in the paper that you were in rehab in Spain and about to die' So I looked in the paper and they wrote that. These were the jobs I was losing. Writing stuff like that wasn't very nice."
There was one benefit to the media attention, however - for the wives and girlfriends of his team-mates. "Say one footballer wanted to go out with another footballer and go out clubbing or whatever, their girlfriend would say: 'No, you're not going out,’” Gascoigne added.
“But if any of the guys wanted to go out with me, their wives would say 'Go, get on it with Gazza' because they knew if they were messing about with a girl the paparazzi would be there taking photos and they would get nailed."
