It "wasn't something I did purposely" I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here star Ian Wright once admitted of the eight children he fathered by four different women.
Confessing that it took him until the age of 52 to "properly learn what love is", the former Arsenal footballer left a trail of broken hearts in his wake - marrying, cheating and fathering one daughter he doesn't see.
He was just 19 when he first became a dad after adopting girlfriend Sharon Phillips' son Shaun.
Afraid of his own 6ft 2in stepdad - who was an abusive gambler and drinker - Ian said his experiences left him feeling duty-bound to adopt the tot, who like his dad is now a footballer.
“I didn’t have a job, and no means, but I took him on because it was the right thing to do,” he told The Mirror in September.
Son Bradley, also a footballer, arrived soon after followed by Brett, making Ian a father-of-three at just 21.
Growing up, he hadn't even wanted children but told in his autobiography, A Life In Football, how it seemed to be the thing to do.
"When I was younger I used to go around with Shaun and Bradley’s uncle, Norman, Sharon’s brother, and he had girlfriends and kids everywhere. I kind of absorbed that and it almost felt like that was what people did," he wrote.
"This one’s sleeping with that one, he’s got kids with her, her and her, she’s got kids with him and him . . . you go to Jamaica it’s the same thing.
"I’m not saying it’s the best way to live and, really, I just fell into it rather than made it a choice."
Things floundered with Sharon and at 22 he reconnected with childhood friend Debbie, who'd lived down the road from him in south east London when they were six.
She was to become the first Mrs Wright, and as his football career took off they celebrated with a luxury wedding in Mauritius and moved into an idyllic Surrey mansion.
Their son Stacey was born in 1994 but three years later Debbie's world came crashing down when it emerged Ian had been having an affair with a woman he met through his TV work.
A heartbroken Debbie kicked Ian out of the house and refused to take his pleading phonecalls.
But she wanted her son to have two parents and agreed to give him a second shot, welcoming their daughter Bobbi-Lee soon after.
However, her heartache was far from over.
"Perhaps naively, I also thought he would never do it again. Sadly, that wasn't the case," she told the Daily Mail in 2008, revealing how she learned he'd fathered another child during another fling.
"I'll make no secret of the fact our marriage was already in trouble - like I said, can any couple really survive such a public betrayal - but I was devastated to find out this time, his fling had more serious repercussions. This time there was no recovery," she said.
For Ian, he admitted he'd got caught up in the culture of instant gratification that is so often attached to footballers' lives.
"It was while I was playing for Arsenal and everything was going so well for me that I got a bit carried away with myself because of all the attention I was getting, the money I was being paid and having so many people all over me," he wrote on his book, admitting he doesn't see Coco.
"I got caught up in all of that and cheated on first wife, Debbie, which destroyed my marriage. That was a really horrible period.
"If there’s ever been a time in my life I wish I could change, that would be it."
Meanwhile, Cupid's arrow struck again when Ian met current wife Nancy in a pub and she refused his advances.
"My missus didn’t know anything about football," he revealed on I'm A Celeb.
"I met her in a pub in Notting Hill, it was the biggest kind of mugging off in respect of meeting someone. I’m not saying I’m Brad Pitt but she mugged me off so beautifully I knew she was the one."
They married in 2011 and had daughters Lola and Roxanne, but their union sparked a major family rift with Ian admitting he hasn't spoken to his sister for 15 years after an argument over Nancy.
Ian said his row with Dionne, known as Dee, came when she and Nancy both joined him on set for a Channel 4 programme and he told his sister not to “make a f***ing scene”.
“Nancy went to introduce herself and she totally blanked her in front of people, saying something about, ‘I have to be true to my niece and nephew,'" he told the True Geordie podcast.
“This happened when I was in the green room. When I went over to her I could feel the anger from my toes. I said, ‘As long as we live I don’t want to ever see you again. The only time I will speak to you is when you apologise to her.’
“And she said, ‘I am not apologising to anyone.’ So I said, ‘That is good because I will never have to see you again.’”
But despite the negativity, in Nancy he has found The One. And amid his happiness, he also carries a deep regret for the hurt he's caused previously.
"I didn’t experience an enormous amount of love from my mum when I was a child, so I’ve had to learn what it is, and learn how to be happy and at peace," he said, apologising for how he treated women before.
"I’ve put other people through horrible experiences along the way. If people think that’s selfish, then I’m really sorry," he continued.
"Nancy’s the perfect woman and I can’t stand to be apart from her and our daughters.
“My love for them is unconditional and my upbringing means I have a lot of love to give now.”
