Christopher Eccleston battled with anorexia during his time on 'Doctor Who'.
Christopher Eccleston
The 55-year-old actor played the Time Lord for the first series of its modern revival 14 years ago, and he has opened up about his health struggles during filming for the science fiction show.
Writing in his upcoming autobiography 'I Love The Bones Of You', he said: "Many times I've wanted to reveal that I'm a lifelong anorexic and dysmorphic. I never have.
"I always thought of it as a filthy secret, because I'm Northern, because I'm male and because I'm working-class.
"The illness is still there raging within me as the Doctor. People love the way I look in that series, but I was very ill. The reward for that illness was the part. And therein lies the perpetuation of the whole sorry situation."
Christopher has also candidly written about being diagnosed with severe clinical depression a year later, and he chose to admit himself to a psychiatric hospital when he became suicidal.
He continued: "I was in a state of extreme anxiety, convinced I was either going to die or I was going to kill myself.
"In my despair I reached for my phone and looked up a psychiatric hospital, I rang ahead, grabbed my bag and ran. I was 100 per cent sure I was in the last few weeks of my life."
He was prescribed anti-depressants after the diagnosis, and the star revealed he is still taking them "to this day".
He added: "I could be on them for the rest of my days. I do have an issue with that.
"I would like to attempt slowly to reduce the dose, to experience reality again, to see how I do...
"And yet, interestingly I have received some of the best reviews of my life since I started taking them."
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