In a hard-hitting documentary for Children in Need, Calum Best opened up about how his childhood was shaped by his father's addiction.
George Best's alcoholism was so severe he didn't realise he "had a choice" about whether to drink, his son Calum, 28, revealed in Brought Up By Booze.
The BBC documentary showed how children are affected by having an alcoholic parent.
"It was good to relate with these young kids and luckily for me it was a healing process", Calum told This Morning earlier this week.
"I have to admit I had reservations about making public what I had kept private for so long. I didn't want anyone to think I was discrediting my father's memory or being disrespectful in any way."
George Best died in 2005 after a long struggle with alcohol.
"Alcohol affected our relationship. He wasn't the father figure. The illness took over. It took my father away and made him do things he wouldn't do as a normal father," Calum told This Morning.
The Belfast sporting genius, who was one of Manchester United's most famous names and British football's first superstar, quit the game when he should have enjoyed many more years at the top.
"I'm so proud to be my dad's son and he was one of the biggest legends of football. But behind closed doors, he was my dad."
"He was an old-school Irishman, so there wasn't much 'I love yous', much hugs... I did grow up in a pub."
"It wasn't a healthy relationship because it was so alcohol-induced."
Famed for spending his nights in bars and nightclubs, Best walked out of top class football in 1972.
Calum's mother Ann drank herself to death in 1978.
By then Best was playing in California where Calum grew up.
"If I asked my dad: 'Dad, why are you drinking? What's going on?' He blocked me out and sometimes that would lead to me going on drinking sessions with him. At the time it was a great way for us to bond. But it doesn't help," Calum said.
Best underwent a liver transplant in 2002, after waiting months for a suitable organ.
But in July 2003 he started to drink again, to the frustration and fury of his wife Alex.
During the years that followed the collapse of his marriage, he cut an increasingly shambolic figure before his untimely death at the age of 59.
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