Former Man Utd midfielder Darron Gibson bravely opens up on addiction to sleeping pills: 'If I kept going, I'd have died'

Darron Gibson has opened up on his addiction to sleeping tablets, revealing that he "would have died" had he kept taking so many.

The 35-year-old former Manchester United, Sunderland and Wigan Athletic midfielder, who made 245 club appearances across a 16-year professional career, struggled with injuries throughout his time in football.

And back in 2013, he damaged the cruciate ligaments in his right knee while playing for Everton – an injury that took a real toll on his life. In fact, Gibson later stated that he feared his career was over after undergoing surgery.

Speaking to The 42 this week in an emotional interview, the former Republic of Ireland international remembers that time in 2013 being “the start of the downfall”.

Almost a decade later and everything came to a head last year, when he was hospitalised following a seizure at home.

"I don’t even think I was functioning at that point. Looking back at pictures, I was grey, if I had have kept going I would have died. I was taking 12 to 14 sleeping tablets a night,'' he said.

“I was rushed to hospital and I didn’t mention any sleeping tablets to anyone. Danielle (his wife) knew I took them but she had no idea to what extent."

Darron Gibson struggled with injuries throughout his career. Image credit: Getty

Gibson added: "I was good at hiding it. Sometimes I’d take them all at once when we’d be going to sleep and I’d say I was bringing up a drink of water for her.

“I’m not embarrassed or ashamed to say now that I was in a bad way, but in the hospital I wasn’t telling anyone. They thought it was epilepsy but I knew it wasn’t. It was sleeping tablets, it had been going on for years."

The former Manchester United midfielder also says that he “felt horrendous” for Dele Alli, who opened up about his addiction to sleeping pills in an interview with The Overlap earlier this year.

Alli said: “I would tell myself I wasn’t an addict, I wasn’t addicted to them, but I definitely was,” Alli said.

“It’s probably a problem that not only I have, it’s something that’s going around more than people realise. Hopefully me coming out and speaking about it can help people.

“Don’t get me wrong, they work. With our schedule, you have a game, you have to be up early in the morning to train. You’ve got all the adrenaline and stuff.

“Sometimes to take a sleeping tablet to sleep and be ready for the next day is fine, but when your dopamine system and you’re as broken as I am, it can have the reverse effect.

“The teams give them to you for a reason, to sleep, and they do do that. I wasn’t taking them to sleep, I was taking them throughout the day, sometimes from 11am if I’ve got the day off.”

Gibson says he's decided to open up on his addiction to sleeping tablets in a bid to help others.

"I’ll be honest, I was nervous and apprehensive about doing an interview because part of the reason I am happier now is that no one knows what goes on in my life anymore," he said.

"I’m talking about this now because I feel I’m in a place in my own life where I am able to. Hopefully it helps people understand the reasons for what happened rather than just thinking, ‘Oh, he’s got a drink problem, he’s done it twice and crashed the car’."

Back in 2018, Gibson's car collided with a number of parked cars, while he was nearly three times over the limit.

Topics: Manchester United, Premier League, Sunderland, Everton, Wigan Athletic

Jack Kenmare

Senior Journalist at SPORTbible with a passion for long-form journalism. Almost 10 years’ experience across online and print.

@jackkenmare_