I let myself down! Barton offers no excuses for Manchester madness
The 30-year-old was loaned out to French club Marseille after being handed a 12-match ban following his red card and subsequent violent conduct at former club Manchester City on the final day of last season.
Barton was sent off for a clash with Manchester City forward Carlos Tevez and responded by lashing out at City players Sergio Aguero and Vincent Kompany before attempting to confront Mario Balotelli.
Barton admitted he had reacted badly to the pressure during the 3-2 defeat at Etihad Stadium.
'I completely let myself down but it's not a rational situation. I knew we could be relegated, they could win the league and I'm captain,' he told GQ Style.
'There's a bit of a media spotlight on me so if we go down, I'm going to take a lot of s*.
'I was already getting it on Twitter so pressure started building and I didn't handle it well.
'My inner chimp doesn't work well with injustice, it reacts too quickly. Tevez has done what he's done, I have reacted and the aftermath is...'
Barton recognises there is no justification for what he did but says the incident has focused his mind to try and improve as a person.
He explained: 'I look at it now and it's almost like it's not me. I'm like "What the ** were you thinking?"
'At the time in some weird way I thought it was the correct way but, looking at it now, I know it wasn't.
'I've got to learn a lesson from that. The thing it reiterated to me was just how far I am from the person I want to be.'
