NEW YORK — Plaxico Burress was walking up the stairs in a Manhattan nightclub three years ago when his life changed with a single gunshot.

The wide receiver, now with the New York Jets, recounts that night in November 2008 when he accidentally shot himself and the 20 months he served in prison as a result in an interview for HBO’s “Real Sports” that airs Tuesday. It’s the first time he has fully detailed the events of the past few years.

“It was dark,” recalled Burress, who was then with the Giants. “And I kind of, you know, missed a step. That’s when I felt my gun start to slide. I went to grab it to stop it from falling. Pow!”

He didn’t realize he had shot himself in the right thigh — until he looked down.

“I had some Chuck Taylors on and they were, the white was all red,” Burress said, showing a small scar on his leg. “I said, ‘Oh, I’m in trouble.”‘

But he didn’t realize how much. His wife, Tiffany, is an attorney who told her husband that he was going to end up serving jail time because he was going to be made an example of.