Bill Nighy turned down a job in Paris after being offered cash to sleep with older women.
The 73-year-old actor moved to the French capital as a teenager and was just 16 years old when he applied for a role at a club which he rejected after bosses told him he could earn 200 francs by sleeping with some of the establishment's female clients.
In an interview with The Sun newspaper, Bill explained: "I was offered a job at a club and it was explained that if I slept with women of a certain age, they’d give me 200 francs.
"I never did it because I’d never done it and would not know how."
He later returned to his native UK and studied at the Guildford School of Acting. He worked as a market stall holder in south London before eventually taking up a career in acting, and in the chat he opened up about how dabbling with drink and drugs in his youth could have ruined everything for him.
Bill ditched his bad habits in 1992 after landing a major TV role with the BBC and he is glad he was able to quit when he did. The 'Love Actually' star - who is nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for 'Living' at the upcoming Academy Awards - went on: "Had I continued to drink and take other drugs, I would not be having this conversation. That is the central fact of my life. I got help.
"There’s not a day that goes by when I don’t thank my lucky stars I do not have to drink."
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