Danny Dyer believes his stint in rehab saved his life because he was popping pills "like Smarties".
The Rivals actor, 48, checked into a clinic in South Africa a decade ago as he was battling an addiction to cocaine and diazepam and he is convinced the decision to get clean saved him from total destruction but it felt a lot like "prison".
He told the Guardian newspaper: "I got to a point when I said: 'I’m going to die, I’m destroying everybody around me' ... I had to get out of the country. The fame and the ego were raging, so I needed to go somewhere where no one knew the f*** who I was.
"You’re broken down again. You’re a number in there. No one gives a s*** about your job or your ego. You’re scrubbing toilets, you work in the kitchen. It’s a bit like prison."
Danny added of kicking his diazepam habit: "It’s worse than heroin. They had to wean me off. It stops anxiety, but we need anxiety and fear and sadness."
Danny revealed one of the techniques he learned in rehab is still useful today and he believes it should be taught to children at school.
He added: "We had to go outside and pick up a leaf, and study all the veins in it. I thought, what the fuck are we doing here? It was actually training your brain to calm that fear.
"You’re concentrating in the moment rather than thinking of all the s*** that has happened in the past or could happen. It’s about being able to sit with your own thoughts and feelings, and that’s something I’m very comfortable with now.
" I think they should teach kids this at school."
Danny explained he learned to meditate and he now uses the practice to help calm his anxiety, but he doesn't believe he will ever be "cured", adding: "[You don't] skip out of the place going: 'I’m cured', and everyone’s happy with you.
"Then you have to address the people you’ve hurt and the pain you’ve caused. This is still something me and my missus work through."
