Big Brother icon 'died penniless and begged former co-star for cash'

Dead or Alive frontman Pete Burns died in October 2016 after suffering a heart attack - but he was reportedly broke in his final years and had to ask friends for money.

Pete Burns was penniless when he died and had to beg pals for money, according to a close friend. The cherished 80s icon, who passed away from cardiac arrest in October 2016, struck up a tight friendship with Scots politician George Galloway after they crossed paths on Celebrity Big Brother in 2006.

But after undergoing more than 300 cosmetic operations and facing an expensive legal fight over bungled surgery, Pete was short of funds and had to approach the ex-MP for financial assistance on multiple occasions, Galloway revealed.

"Pete was really hard up, I myself had to help him out of a jam or two," he told the Daily Star.

"He had a lot of difficulties in his life, no doubt. He had a very bad operation on his lips in Italy and bankrupted himself with the legal costs of suing for compensation for an operation that went wrong.", reports the Mirror.

The Workers Party of Britain chief had previously confessed he was oblivious to the Dead or Alive frontman's worldwide fame, insisting he'd been "too busy on the miners' strikes" to take notice.

Pete's death was confirmed by his manager.

In a statement posted on social media at the time, he said: "It is with the greatest sadness that we have to break the tragic news that our beloved Pete Burns of (Dead Or Alive), died suddenly yesterday of a massive cardiac arrest.

"All of his family and friends are devastated by the loss of our special star. He was a true visionary, a beautiful talented soul, and he will be missed by all who loved and appreciated everything he was and all of the wonderful memories the has left is with.

"We have no more words, we will make a further statement when we have had a chance to come to terms with our devastating loss. He will live forever in our memories. Sending you all our love. X Lynne, Michael, Steve X."

During a television show that aired just weeks before his passing, Pete, 57, disclosed he'd endured over 300 treatments over the years to fix botched operations - yet remained obsessed with his appearance.

The You Spin Me Round legend nearly lost his life following one procedure designed to rectify failed surgery.

On Channel 5's Celebrity Botched Up Bodies, Pete opened up about how his cosmetic enhancement odyssey started two decades ago when he shot to fame. He went on to have four nose jobs, cheek implants, and underwent countless lip treatments.

Speaking about his first procedure, he said: "I realised I was going to be a visual entity and that I had to look good. I had a broken nose. In the punk days somebody head butted me in Liverpool and it went over to one side.

"When you're young, self-conscious and standing in front of a camera and the photographers are whispering, 'Can we turn his head to the left?' you think, 'I'll do something about it'."

He had a nose job to correct it, but the surgery went disastrously wrong. "I woke up covered in blood. There was so much blood it was unbelievable," he shared.

"There were tubes up my nose. He'd removed most of my nose and there was just two nostrils and a little bit of bone in the middle. I nearly fainted."

Pete then had to undergo further surgery to rectify it - this was merely the first of "probably 300".

"The amount of surgeries I've had are absolutely minimal compared to the reconstructive surgeries I've had. Probably 300," the star admitted.

Pete also recalled a time when he was performing with Scissor Sisters and spotted something wrong with his lower lip, which had filler in it at the time. He then went back to the surgeon to have excess fluid drained.

"He held me down on the operating table and punched two syringes in," the singer said. "At least a pint and a half of yellow steaming fluid was vomited out of the lip."

Even worse, Pete disclosed that the filler began spreading to other parts of his face, leaving holes in his skin from which yellow fluid would leak.

After the infection spread throughout his body and his lips faced potential amputation, he sued the surgeon and won £450,000 in an out-of-court settlement. Recounting his harrowing experience, he shared: "I've had a major operation a week for two years to remove it from my cheeks where it had migrated, my Adam's apple, the back of my eyes.. They couldn't do anything about the liver and the kidneys. I had to excrete that out."

Doctors even had to utilise a piece of his stomach to fashion new lower and upper lips. "I was clinically depressed. Two years is a long time out of your life."

However, Pete's situation was set to worsen. "I developed blood clots and pulmonary embolisms in my legs, heart and lungs," he disclosed.

"I got these black marks on my skin and I thought they were bruises. The next thing my driver came in and I was unconscious, not breathing."

He was swiftly taken to hospital where medics gave him less than a two per cent chance of survival. The star was quickly put on blood thinners and after 10 days, the medical team managed to save his life.

But despite his brush with death, Pete remained resolute.

"What I'm trying to achieve with my surgery is my own personal satisfaction. It's narcissism at its extreme," he stated.

"I've got staples, nuts, bolts, stitches, the whole lot. I'm Frankenstein. I'm feeling wonderful. I've got complete flexibility, not tightness at all.

"People might think I'm the ugliest son son of a b**ch alive but I want to maintain this appearance."