Former Manchester United player Luke Chadwick has revealed he made up a fake girlfriend when he first moved to the club.
Chadwick moved from Cambridge to Manchester at the age of 16 and was embarrassed that he did not have a partner.
So, he decided to create an imaginary one and went to extreme lengths to keep up his lie.
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He had a picture of the best-looking girl from his school in his wallet and even started having fake phone conversations.
Chadwick made the hilarious admission on Twitter earlier this year, writing: “When I moved to Manchester at 16 I was embarrassed about not having a girlfriend!
“So I cut out the most attractive girl from my school year book kept it in my wallet in case anyone asked!
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“I got so into the lie I was even having fake phone calls with my imaginary gf in digs!”
Chadwick turned out 39 times for United and won the Premier League in the 2000/2001 before going on to play for the likes of West Ham United, Stoke, Norwich, MK Dons and Cambridge United.
Last year, he opened about about being abused for his appearance and how it affected his mental health.
"They abused me purely because of the way I looked. That was tough. It made me feel really low about myself," he told SPORTbible in an exclusive interview.
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"I remember people saying I was ugly and that my teeth stuck out.
"It was the feeling that everyone was laughing at you. It wasn't just people taking the piss and you have some banter back.
"It felt like that's all anyone was talking about.
"It was the reason why I didn't go out a lot. I was anxious. I was embarrassed about it. It was a hard situation to go and talk to someone about.
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"I was just a real quiet lad. I didn't really speak that much. I'd just go to training, go home and just stay in my flat.
"As I got older, I grew more resilient and would have some banter back, but I was still so quiet and shy."
Featured Image Credit: Image: PATopics: Manchester United, Premier League
