Super smooth David Ginola found fame with his silky skills on the pitch and strutting his stuff on the catwalk – and now the flamboyant Frenchman is proving he’s still cool as a cucumber.
The 54-year-old, starring in ITV’sI’m A Celebrity, calmly explained on the show how he survived a heart attack and has been winning over campmates and viewers with his legendary Gallic charm.
It’s not the first time that he’s met show hosts Ant & Dec either, because he had a run-in with the Geordie duo before he ever set foot in the show’s Gwrych Castle in North Wales.
But how much do you know about the suave soccer icon? Here James Moore reveals 15 facts.
(Image: Getty Images)
1. Born in 1967 in Gassin, near glamorous St Tropez in the south of France, the youngster once became so love-struck staring at his English teacher at school that she had to ring his parents Rene and Mireille.
2. He began playing professional football at 18 for Toulon and later starred for top-flight French team Paris Saint-Germain.
3. In 1995 the wonder winger was snapped up for £2.5million by Kevin Keegan to play for Newcastle Utd. Ginola’s flair saw fans nickname him ‘David Copperfield’ after the celebrity magician.
(Image: Getty Images)
4. Scoring a memorable 30-metre screamer in Newcastle’s 5-0 win over Man Utd in 1996, he brushed shoulders with local Magpie fans Ant and Dec, now hosts of I’m A Celeb.
5. Ginola later played for Tottenham, helping them win the League Cup in 1999, and starred for Aston Villa and Everton before retiring in 2002.
6. But he only won 17 caps for the French national side, after a spat with manager Gerard Houllier, who blamed him for a mistake in a 1994 World Cup qualifier.
(Image: WireImage)
7. His lustrous locks and fab physique saw David model for brands like Cerruti and front TV campaigns for L’Oreal as well advertise Braun shavers, Carte Noire coffee and Renault cars.
8. Ginola, who penned an autobiography called ‘Le Magnifique’, has worked as a pundit for the BBC and BT Sport and once ran to be President of FIFA.
9. Having taken acting classes, he’s also starred as a butcher in a short film, a soldier in World War Two heist movie The Last Drop and appeared on the French version of Strictly Come Dancing.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
10. He married fashion model Coraline in 1991 and the couple had two children, Andrea, 27, now a football agent and Carla, 23, a model. The couple split in 2016.
11. Ginola then hooked up with French model Maëva Denat, 28, and the pair have a daughter born in 2018.
12. In 2016 Ginola had a heart attack while playing a charity football match and “died for 12 minutes.” Footie pal Frederic Mendy saved his life by performing CPR and David later underwent quadruple bypass surgery.
(Image: Getty Images)
13. Maëva has revealed that he “eats like Viking” but has overhauled his diet having previously disliked exercise while enjoying smoking, red meat and booze.
14. Reckoned to have been paid around £500,000 for his stint on I’m A Celeb, Ginola owns his own vineyard in the south of France, even winning an award for his rosé wine.
15. During his football career Ginola used to play the lottery so he wouldn’t be a “slave to work” and now says he is enjoying a “second chance in life.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
