Doctor Who star, Billie Piper has revealed how drink and drug binges almost drove her to suicide.
Child star Piper admits in an interview with the Radio Times dabbling with drugs as a teenager while she was enjoying chart success.
Describing her pop years she says: �I can�t remember much � is that good or bad?�
�I had a very dark moment at 16 when I didn�t want to be here anymore � but I did nothing about it. Thank god.�
�I had my head in the clouds, was mad, neurotic and self destructive, a very different character to the one you see today.�
Despite massive chart success with a handful of pop songs, Piper�s pop career4 left her broke.
She said: �I was young, green and taken advantage of.
�There was a massive financial rip off and, although I was working twice as hard as I am now, I was left with hardly any money.
�I�m not moaning because I chose to do it, but it was my downfall. I was high maintenance � not demanding because I didn�t have the balls, but stroppy and drinking too much.
�I never thought it was a problem � it�s only with hindsight that you realise you were a bit out of control.
�I still turned up for work - even though I had a face like a slapped arse. My eyes were vague and dead. And my mouth was smiling without feeling, in a false pose I�d become accustomed to.�
It was her relationship with radio DJ Chris Evans that Piper credits with �saving� her, she says: �Chris and I found each other when it could have gone badly for both of us. We saved each other from our worlds of madness.�
Since splitting from Evans, Piper has found TV stardom with her role as Rose in the new �Doctor Who� series but this too will be coming to an end soon.
�The longer I stayed, the more scared I�d be of leaving because it�s so comfortable and nice. I�m utterly grateful for the whole experience but you have to take care of yourself and do what you feel it right.�
Piper, 23 will be spending her time writing her autobiography and will be starring in a TV adaptation of Philip Pullman�s �Ruby In The Smoke�
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