'Falling down drunk' David Hasselhoff

Oct 6, 2008, 13:40 GMT

07/15/2008 - David Hasselhoff - "Step Brothers" Los Angeles Premiere - Arrivals - Mann Village Theater - Westwood, CA, USA © Glenn Harris / PR Photos

David Hasselhoff is a "falling-down drunk", says his ex-wife.

Pamela Bach claims her 16-year marriage to the 56-year-old actor - which ended in 2006 - was put under enormous pressure due to his alcohol addiction.

She said: "David is a falling-down drunk and I covered up for him for years. Alcoholism destroys you whether you are a regular Joe or the biggest star on the planet.

"I love him. I always have. He's a good man. He's tried desperately hard to get sober. But he's an alcoholic. He has a disease, just like cancer. And just like cancer, it ate away at our family from the inside."

Pamela - who has daughters Taylor Ann, 18, and Hayley Amber, 16, with the star - found it hard to come to terms with living with someone so different from his on-screen 'Baywatch' persona.

She added to Britain's Mail On Sunday newspaper: "I would cover for him with the 'Baywatch' producers if he was late getting to work. Sometimes I would get up in the middle of the night and find him passed out on the sofa. Everybody thought he was the golden star in swimming trunks on the beach with Pamela Anderson but the drink was taking over his life. To me, he was the man who fell over on the bedroom floor."

Despite going through an acrimonious divorce with David - during which he accused her of being a drug addict and a gold-digger obsessed with his £25 million fortune - Pamela still cares for him.

She claims he is a "fantastic father" who would do anything for his children, adding she is concerned he is not getting the care he so desperately needs.

Pamela said: "David and I will always be a part of each other's lives. I see him and I worry. He's very thin now. No one is looking after him. I know he is drinking but no one cares whether he is eating or not."