Irish football legend Tony Cascarino has spoken candidly of the incredible highs and lows of his extraordinary life, from his marital infidelity and 'double life', suspected doping and bribery allegations, and the painful separation from his children.
In a new RTÉ documentary, the 88-times capped Republic of Ireland striker also lifts the lid on a remarkable chapter - a tale of love, scandal and redemption - towards the end of his football career while living in the south of France.
Cascarino says of his tumultuous life and career as a professional sportsman: 'Even for me, looking back, I'm thinking, a lot's happened. There's great stuff in there, but failure and success has sort of worked hand in hand.'
The 6ft 2in Englishman, who won over the hearts of Irish soccer fans, admits the lowest ebb in his action packed life was the separation from his three children, Maeva, William, and Josh, when his ex-wife, Virginia, moved to Tahiti after they split in the 2000s.
'I didn't see Maeva for 11 years. So, the relationship that we had for a period of time, as a little girl in France, very precious. Time can not only be a healer, but it can also be very painful.'
Reading a poignant passage from his biography, he recalls Maeva as a little girl of five throwing her arms around him and calling him 'Papa' and thinking it was 'easily the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me'.
He continues: 'She was born in Nice at a time when I was married to another woman, living in another place and leading a double life.'
Cascarino's career in France, after underwhelming spells at Celtic and Chelsea, was marked by both triumph and controversy.
'I went to Marseille as the last throw of the dice. That was my final chance of a bit of redemption, in some ways, of how England had fallen apart for me.'
He went on to become a hero in France when he scored 61 goals in his two seasons for Marseille.
But there was also a darker side associated with his time in Marseille, and Cascarino recalls the club's controversial former chairman Bernard Tapie being present when players were given mystery injections.
'We had a club doctor come to the hotel one night before a game, and there were injections given out. I didn't know what they were,' he said.
'We were told they were boosters. But what was in the boosters, I don't know. And all I knew is I felt quite good before the game, and I got very concerned at one period when I did say, "I'm not having these injections."
'Tapie was next to me, and he literally pushed me out the way and ripped up his own shirt and said, "inject me."' UEFA later re-examined doping tests from the era but found no violations.
Cascarino also speaks openly about the collapse of his marriage to his first wife Sarah, after he met Virginia in France.
He claimed he was initially determined not to leave his wife and their two sons, Michael and Teddy, but in the end he recalls sitting down at the kitchen table and writing her a note saying, 'Sarah, I'm sorry it's something I had to do. I know you'll never understand, Tony.'
When Cascarino finished playing in France, his second marriage dissolved soon afterwards, and this time his wife left him.
'I went through the mill with Virginia, my second wife. We had children, Maeva initially, and then Wills and Josh.'
Growing up in St Paul's Cray in London in the 1960s, Cascarino's sister Amanda remembers her famous brother having a 'weird appetite'.
She tells the documentary: 'He had to have mayonnaise on everything, including cornflakes and disgusting stuff like that. How he got to be so big, I do not know.'
He got his big break at the age of 18 in January 1982, when his club sold him to professional side Gillingham FC at the age of 18 for 'a set of tracksuits'.
'I'm playing football every day as a job, and I just think I'm in heaven, I didn't really care what I was getting paid,' he says.
During the hour-long programme, Cascarino and fellow Irish legend Andy Townsend recall the nerve-shredding moment they took penalties for Ireland against Romania in Italia '90.
'It's hard to describe the walk in such a big moment,' said Cascarino.
'All I could hear was what [Ireland manager] Jack [Charlton] said to me: "Hard and low, don't try and be clever."
'And I'm thinking more about if I miss it and I've tried to be clever - he'd go mental, he'd go blue in the face.'
Now 63 and living with his third wife Jo and their son, Rocco, the soccer pundit and TALKSPORT Radio presenter spent last Christmas with all his children and his first grandchild.
'I'm in a great place at the moment, very happy at the moment, until I do something wrong, and then I'm a naughty boy again.'
