Once he thought he had it all – a glitzy world of fame and fortune, living in a multi-million pound mansion with his celebrity wife Katie Price .
And then it all went horribly wrong for Alex Reid .
Now, four years on from their bitter divorce, the former cage fighter is sitting in a one-bedroom flat talking about suicide, bankruptcy fears, depression and how he believes his ex-wife has tried to destroy him – all under the shadow of £400,000 worth of debt.
At the age of 40, he says he has no choice but to go back to fighting to make ends meet.
And the very thought sends a chill down his spine.
“I won’t lie. I am petrified about getting back in the ring,” says Alex.
“I know I could be badly hurt. I’ve been hospitalised at least 10 times in my career with concussion, fractured orbital bones, all sorts.
“I know what I’m up against at my age because I am past my best. But I have no choice.
“How bad are things? I haven’t got a pot to p*** in.”
Read more:Alex Reid tells Katie Price to "move on"
He says legal bills from his splits with Katie and then Big Brother star Chantelle Houghton , the mother of his daughter Dolly, left him broke.
On top of that there are big bank loans, personal debts to pals who have tried
to help him out and losses through a disastrous property investment.
“The debts have been mounting up and it must be around £400,000 now,” he reveals.
“It is scary. I’ve been as low as anyone can go. Two and half years ago I thought about ending it all.
“Then I thought ‘how dare you’. I couldn’t put my family, my daughter and my beautiful fiancée through that kind of hurt.”
At least his romantic life is happier nowadays, sharing new love Nikki Menasha’s small North London flat.
He says the stability of his engagement to the 31-year-old personal trainer has given him the strength to prepare for the comeback he hopes will help pay for their wedding.
It will be a far cry from the previous one six years ago.
Then Alex was at the height of his fame – with ring and media earnings estimated at over £1million. And being Katie’s man was pretty lucrative too.
“I was getting £25,000 for a glossy magazine interview - for an afternoon’s work,” he says.
“I was getting £1,500 a week to do my own magazine column and I even got £20,000 to open a ride at Thorpe Park.”
Alex thought nothing of spending £56,000 on a wedding ring for Katie.
He wore a £6,000 Rolex watch and regularly splashed out £5,000 on Chanel handbags for the model he married in Las Vegas.
“I bought her at least three of those just on impulse,” Alex says.
“The funny thing is I spent most of my money on Katie. When everything was going wrong between us I paid £8,000 for a holiday in the Maldives to try and bring us closer together.
“It didn’t work and she told the papers we were splitting up as soon as we got back.
"In some ways I tried to compete with her spending, even after we split, but I never could of course.
“Holidays, rings, jewellery, clothes, none of it was a problem. There was always plenty of cash.
“I once paid £2,500 for a Hermes crocodile skin belt for myself – that was when I was with Chantelle.
“To be honest I thought it was only £500 and I got a shock when they told me that was just the price of the buckle.
“But I felt disgusted with myself and very guilty. My whole family have always worked hard and I wasn’t brought up to waste money.
"What I really miss now is being able to treat my friends to a meal at a nice restaurant.
“That is what I really miss –not going to Selfridges or Louis Vuitton and spending a fortune on stuff I don’t need.”
He now exists on a tight budget where every penny counts - and he tries hard not to dwell on the debt.
Alex owes lawyers £75,000 over his splits from Katie and Chantelle who he was engaged to for a year in 2011.
She accused him of having other relationships when she was pregnant.
He owes another £50,000 in loans from friends and banks.
To add to his woes a £275,000 apartment he bought in Praia da Luz in Portugal at the height of his fame has plunged more than £50,000 in value, saddling him with a mortgage he can’t afford while leaving him unable to sell without incurring bigger debts.
As far as any income is concerned, that’s where he believes that 37-year-old Katie has hit him hardest.
He says lucrative media work following his Celebrity Big Brother win in 2010 dried up he after she outed him as a cross dresser and later questioned his sexuality.
Katie spoke about it on ITV’s Loose Women saying: “If he does end up
being a transgender, it wouldn’t surprise me.”
Alex says: “I think Katie has tried to destroy me to be honest. I think she just got bored with me and saw me as a way of keeping her media profile up by being controversial.
“The truth is I have never lied about Roxanne. But it was Katie who outed me and encouraged me to be public about it.
“Then she used it all against me. I want to put the record straight. I am heterosexual, though I don’t deny I’ve experimented. But I am not having a sex change.
“Roxanne was fun and such a small part of my life. It has all been blown out of proportion to make me look like somebody I am not and it has hurt a lot – emotionally and financially.
"I’ve been getting a bit of work here and there, but it hasn’t been much because of everything that was said about me.
“I’ve become Mr Untouchable. That is why this comeback is about pride as well as money.”
A veteran of 50 brutal cage bouts, Alex realises he is playing Russian roulette with his life.
He says: “I know I’m rolling the dice big time because of all the injuries I’ve suffered over the years.
“I’m not putting my health and my life on the line lightly. I want to show people I am not the joke I appear to have become.
“I’m in a better place now, thankfully, and feel ready to fight my way back.”
He reveals he has been putting his body through the pain barrier with respected boxing trainer Don Charles at the Punch Gym in North London.
“I’ve been getting myself back in shape and losing the love handles,” he says.
“It is oh so hard because my body is not what it was. I knew four years ago the cage was no place for me any more.
“I knew my best fighting days were over and with the acting work I was getting in panto I thought life was going in a good direction.
“But it took me away from what I loved, even though I was making more money in a couple of hours than I used to in six months.
“But the money has long gone and I have a big fight on my hands to get back to where I was financially.
“I’ve been on the bones of my a**e for a while, depending on friends and loved ones. But I’m in a better place now and feel ready to fight my way back.
"I’m a determined so-and-so when I’m in there and I’m hoping there is still enough left to turn my life around.
“I’m fighting for more than money. I’m fighting for pride. People look at me today and think I’m a joke because of the cross dressing stuff Katie kept talking about.
“But I’m out to remind people who I really am. People forget I was in the Army for four years.
“I was a paratrooper, then a cage fighter and then an actor – and all that happened before I ever met Katie Price. And it can happen again.”
His mixed martial arts comeback is slated for July 16 at London’s O2 Area on the Bellator MMA show featuring cage fighting legend Kimbo Slice. He will return to action against an as yet unnamed opponent.
Alex retired from MMA four years ago after a professional fighting career which began in 1998 and spanned 200 kick boxing bouts, 50 jiu jitsu fights and 50 cage fights in MMA.
He admits: “I’m scared to death at the moment but at the same time I’m loving it. I’m not sitting around.
"I know I’ve made mistakes and said and done things I shouldn’t have, but if I can restore my name in the ring I hope that it will be the beginning of the road back.”