Cold Feet star John Thomson has spoken about the “dark thoughts” he experienced at low periods in his life.
The actor rocketed to fame when the ITV drama began in 1997, but his career took a tumble after the final series aired in 2003 – and his party lifestyle was documented in the tabloid press.
He told the Radio Times: “Nothing prepares you for fame. It’s such a shock to you when you’re put on a pedestal and it’s all these parties and everyone wants to be your mate.
“I moved to London and just bought into the scene. I bought into the parties and the private members’ clubs, everybody does, it’s a rite of passage.”
He accepted he was an alcoholic in 2006, but struggled to turn his career around and made an unsuccessful trip to Los Angeles in 2012 to get back on track.
He said he kept going for the sake of his two daughters, adding: “I tried to be chipper and happy-go-lucky when I got back, but it broke me inside.”
Soon after his wife left him in 2015, he received a call about the Cold Feet revival, which aired last year and gave him a chance to draw on his own experiences.
At one point his character Pete came close to taking his own life, but Thomson said something stopped him from ever reaching that position.
He said: “There’s a force in me that won’t allow me to go that low. Too much to lose. Maybe before children, possibly, but not now. Not now. You contemplate. I’ve had thoughts.
“I’ve had dark thoughts, but never considered carrying them out. I could mentally toy with the idea of it and how to do it, but not carry it out, because I’ve got something in me, call it spirit, a guardian angel.”
The call telling him Cold Feet was returning came when he was considering playing the dame in a pantomime in Stockport.
He said: “The timing couldn’t have been better. It was my salvation.”
Cold Feet will return for another series on September 8 on ITV.
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