Strictly Come Dancing star Paul Merson ‘s first wife said she was “naïve” to how much money he was gambling due to his weekly Arsenal salary.

Lorraine Costin opened up about how she didn’t realise when her then-husband’s addictions took hold due to the large amount he was earning. The pair were married for ten years in the 1990s, during which time he blew £7 million on drink, drugs and gambling.

Paul struggles began at the height of his career which meant he had thousands of pounds he could blow. However, Lorraine didn’t know until he confided in her in November 1994 about his issues. She told The Sun: “We never had any money worries because he paid off his debts. But if you’re earning £10,000 a week and you’re a gambling addict, you’re going to spend £10,000. I wasn’t even angry when I found out how much he’d spent. I just felt helpless.”

The pair were both just 21 when they tied the knot in 1991 and then went on to have three sons – Charlie, Ben and Sam. Lorraine said it was “difficult” to live with someone with addictions but she felt at the time that she was the one who was going to be able to help her husband.

“He wasn’t like it when we got married. But when he started to struggle I thought I could change him. I had a deluded belief that I was the one who could fix him,” she said. “I was like ‘don’t worry. I’ll look after you. We’ll do this together’. But I was young and I didn’t understand it all. The hardest thing is to help someone who doesn’t want to help themselves. Nobody can change him. He has to do that himself.”

January 1994 saw Paul seek help for his addictions and he checked into a rehab centre. However, a few years later in 2001, the couple called time on their relationship. Paul then went on to re-marry as he met Louise Bache and they then had twin girls. However, they split in 2013 and he now has two children with third wife, Kate.

It has been reported that wife Kate is in charge of Paul’s money and gives him an allowance. He is currently competing on Strictly Come Dancing as it’s said all his earnings will go straight to Kate. The star attends Gamblers Anonymous and has private therapy to keep his life on track.

He previously told radio station talkSPORT he had wanted to break his own fingers to stop him placing a bet in the past. “The addiction is so overwhelming, it’s scary what it does,” he said. “If you put your hand in a fire and went to do it again your brain would tell you ‘don’t do that again.’ With addictions the brain doesn’t tell you that.”

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