David Hasselhoff's ex wife claims his drinking wrecked their marriage
Washington, Oct 6 :: American actor David Hasselhoff's ex-wife Pamela Bach blames his
wild drinking ways for the failure of their marriage and family problems.
Bach said that the actor's alcoholism was like cancer, and that covering up for him was
very exhausting.
"David is a falling-down drunk and I covered up for him for years. Alcoholism destroys
you whether you are a regular Joe or the biggest star on the planet," Fox News quoted Bach
as telling the Daily Mail.
"I never really noticed when we were dating. But when we were married, it was clear
David was drinking a lot. He couldn't hide it. He is fundamentally unhappy even though
there's no real reason for his unhappiness.
"Everybody thought he was the golden star in the swimming trunks on the beach with
(Baywatch co-star) Pamela Anderson, but the drink was taking over his life. To me, he was
the man who fell over on the bedroom floor," she said.
She recalled an incident that took place in June 2002, when she had thought her husband
was at the Betty Ford rehab clinic for treatment, but instead shocked her with an
intoxicated call from a hotel room.
"I'm drunk and I think I'm dying," Bach recalled him as telling her through the
phone.
Bach, who had been happy that Hasselhoff had agreed to go into rehab, was crushed when
she received the phone call.
"After years of drinking, he'd finally admitted he had a problem and had agreed to go
into rehab," she remembered.
"It had all been such a huge relief. But then I got that phone call," she stated.
When she arrived at the hotel, she came to know that her husband had consumed
everything in the minibar, and was later found by a maid on the floor semi-conscious and
partly naked.
As usual Bach covered up the incident to protect his reputation and the family.
"Had news leaked out, it would have destroyed the image he created for himself and the
image I created for my friends and family. We were both living a lie but the biggest
tragedy was that David loved the bottle more than me," she said.
But no matter how much she tried to cover up for him, his drinking problem leaked out
in recent months.
"Did I know he had a drinking problem? Yes, probably. But I protected him and our
children because that was my job. He provided for us and I saw my role as making his life
as easy as possible. I know he loved me," she said.
"We were both living a lie but the biggest tragedy was that David loved the bottle more
than me," she added. :
--ANI