Gregg Wallace has opened up about his secret alcohol battle which saw him drinking seven days a week at the height of his dependency.
The Masterchef star revealed that "loneliness" was a contributing factor to his desire to drink, and admitted he would turn up to his local pub at 10am every morning.
MORE: Gregg Wallace shows off six pack in new photo
"I just wanted to be out and I just wanted to drink. It was seven days a week," the 56-year-old confessed.
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"It got so bad at one point the owner of The White Bear in Clerkenwell used to let me in when he was still in his dressing gown.
"I'd be in there with the window cleaner, who was also a drunk, and a drunken lawyer and we'd start drinking at 10am – then the landlord would open up and we'd just catch up and tell him what we had."
Gregg said his "drink dependency" was at its peak shortly before he started hosting MasterChef in 2005, around the time of his divorce from second wife Denise.
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© Photo: InstagramGregg's weight ballooned at the height of his battle but he is now fitter than ever
"I don't think the people out there boozing all the time are in a good mental state – I definitely wasn't. It means you don't want to go home," he told the Mail Online.
"I'd start at 10 in the morning then have a big lunch with a few more drinks, have a couple in the afternoon followed by a big dinner.
"At the weekends, I used to call my sofa the Betty Ford Clinic. It was drink dependency, I just didn't realise. It all seemed like fun. It might have also been loneliness and a desire to just party and go out all the time. The idea of being at home wasn't great."
© Photo: Getty ImagesGregg's wife Anne taught him how to drink alcohol without getting drunk
While his weight ballooned to 16.5 stone, Gregg has since overhauled his lifestyle and diet and has lost an incredible four stone.
In July, Gregg spoke to HELLO! about his impressive new regime, and revealed that meeting his "lovely wife" Anne had inspired him to get in shape.
Gregg explained: "Meeting my beautiful, lovely wife [Anne] who's a lot younger than me. I thought, well she's obviously alright having an old boyfriend, or now an old husband - but there's no reason why she should have to have an old fat husband is there! Honestly, I wanted to be fit and well, I'm 22 years older than her."
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