DAVID HASSELHOFF - HASSELHOFF TURNED TO DRINK TO 'KILL ANXIETY'

HASSELHOFF TURNED TO DRINK TO 'KILL ANXIETY'

Troubled star DAVID HASSELHOFF turned to drinking in a bid to overcome "anxiety and loneliness". The former Baywatch actor admits in his forthcoming autobiography, Don't Hassel The Hoff, his addiction to alcohol started in the 1970s when he was starring in US soap opera The Young And The Restless. He writes, "Beer and tequila and scotch were my thing in the clubs. I'd wake up across town with someone and think, 'Uh-oh, I've got to go to work.'" Hasselhoff admits he hit the bottle heavily in between Knight Rider and Baywatch, when he was struggling to find work. In 2002, Hasselhoff fled the Californian rehabilitation center the Betty Ford Clinic, wearing only "sweatpants, tank top and tennis shoes but no wallet". He checked into a Marriott hotel and "once inside, I sat down at the desk, switched on the TV, and proceeded to have a few drinks from the minibar... I told myself I'd go back to Betty Ford in the morning, but first I needed another shot of tequila". Hasselhoff hit the headlines last week (ends04May07) when a video filmed by his teenage daughter Taylor was leaked online, showing the actor drunk.