George Kay died of a drug overdose in 2019, and his tragic last days were laid bare in an inquest into his death this week.
The former rugby league player, 39, died after crushing a ball of cocaine inside a sock and "eating" the contents, the inquest heard.
At the inquest, which was Warrington Coroner's Court on Tuesday, George's family laid some of the blame for his death with his ex-wife Kerry Katona, who he had separated been from at the time of his passing.
His brother Ashley Kay claimed that George's drug use "increased" during his marriage to Kerry.
Mr Kay said: "We want to make clear that the drug taking period increased during his time with his wife and got significantly worse when they separated, due to the fact he was stopped from seeing his child."
Kerry and George met as teenagers when they were students at Padgate High School in Warrington and were childhood sweethearts.
They were reunited in their early 30s and married in 2014, just months after the birth of their daughter Dylan-Jorge, now seven.
She accused him of being violent and abusive during their marriage, and they split up after 12 months.
There was a restraining order in place keeping George away from Kerry at the time of his death, and before he died, George had not seen his daughter DJ for over a year.
In the days before his passing, George had been staying at the Holiday Inn in Sutton Weaver, Cheshire, when he became very unwell after taking the drugs.
He was rushed to hospital, where he tragically died due to the excess effects of the toxic substance.
Just 12 hours earlier the police had arrived following complaints that he was seen wandering around the corridors asking people to be his friend.
Before he died, George had long struggled with drug abuse.
Just two months he had been admitted to Warrington Hospital with drug induced psychosis, but he was discharged.
Before that he had also experienced a "minor heart attack" related to cocaine use.
On July 5, 2019 hotel staff called the police after George was seen acting erratically and knocking on other doors at his hotel.
The police arrived at 9.54pm, but left when George agreed to return to his room.
Officers said he was hallucinating after taking the drug, but didn't arrest him despite noticing traces of cocaine by his bathroom sink.
A female police offer was later disciplined for not searching George or arresting him for possession of cocaine.
The female police officer, who cannot be named, said: ''It looked like he had sniffed a line of cocaine off the side of the sink. If there was 1/2 a teaspoon of cocaine, I would have taken it as analysis but there wasn't much there at all.
''I did not believe it was enough to arrest him for possession of drugs. The remnants of cocaine were left in the bathroom. I was mainly concerned about his welfare.''
Cheshire Police said cocaine worth £100 with a high purity was found in the room.
PC Declan Corcoran said: ''The hotel staff were concerned about a male wandering around and banging on doors refusing to go back to his room.
''When we got there, he was quite calm. He understand that he had been taking drugs. He said he had taken the substance in the bathroom about one hour ago. He said he had been seeing shadows and that he saw wasps in his room. He realised he had been hallucinating. He said he was struggling with his mental health because of issues in his personal life. He admitted to taking cocaine that evening."
Caroline Garcia, a hotel worker, said at the inquest: "At around 7pm a colleague rang me to say there was a guest in the corridor making noise. I went to see what was going on and there was a strong, tall man speaking with another lady outside one of the rooms.
''I thought he was drunk or high and I dealt with the situation. He was not making any sense and said he was looking for someone to be his friend."
Ms Garcia said she asked George for ID to help him finding his room, but he told her he was looking for a friend.
Shen then got him into a lift and stayed with him for an hour, another hotel worker got him some water but he was struggling to drink it.
Ms Garcia added: "He asked if I would prepare cocaine for him, but I said I wouldn't do that. He said there was a man in his room but we went to his room and we confirmed there was no one else there. He was refusing to go into the room and was saying it was not his.''
Barman Michael Hulme said George was behaving "erratically" and "unpredictably" but wasn't a threat.
He tried to get him to go back into his room and George asked him for cocaine.
Mr Hume said: ''We got him to his room and he appeared to be making no sense. He said he had family at the hotel, which we knew wasn't the case and I saw some type of white powder in the bathroom which I thought might be cocaine.''
The following morning, George ingested what hotel staff believed was a large amount of cocaine crushed into a sock.
Luke Smith, a food and beverage supervisor at the hotel, said: ''Mr Kay was agitated and annoyed with himself. He wanted to go into the room but it was as if something was stopping him. I was concerned about how he might have mental health issues.
''Whilst I was standing in the door, I saw white powder in the bathroom. The following morning he needed house keeping to let him back into his room. He pulled out a sock with a large ball and was sat in a chair. He caused the ball to crumble by crushing it and I believed it was drugs. He became very unwell, so we put him in the recovery position and called an ambulance."
Mr Osaghae-Kay's mum, Hilary Kay, also gave a statement which was summarised by assistant coroner for Cheshire, Peter Sigee, who stated: "She was aware that his substance abuse had been getting worse since around May 2019.
"He had a social life at that time which revolved around celebrity friends that would provide him with money and there was talk about helping him set up a business abroad."
Ms Kay also referred to stress in his life, writing: "There were personal difficulties he had in his life that may have led to him taking more recreational drugs."
Recording a verdict of drug related death, Mr Sigee said: ''Police officers were called to attend because Mr Kay was behaving in an effective manner. He admitted to taking drugs, he was calm and police did not consider it lawful to arrest or search him. They did not think he required an urgent medical assessment and they left.
''On the morning of 6 July, he was seen to eat a quantity of cocaine and then collapse. It is not possible to say now he came into possession of the cocaine he took on that morning but I am satisfied the death was drug related."
A rep for Kerry Katona declined to comment when contacted by The Mirror.
