Danny Dyer has opened up on his time in a psychiatric unit which he checked himself into after realising he has male abandonment issues.
During an interview, the ex-EastEnders star, 45, recalled the time he flew across to South Africa and spent a month in a place he sometimes calls a 'psychiatric unit' and sometimes 'rehab'.
According to reports in The Mirror, the dad-of-three explained why he didn't opt for a stay in celebrity-favourite The Priory during the recent interview with The Times, saying how he wanted to work on his mental health struggles free of "linen sheets and candles."
The former soap icon, who played Mick Carter from 2013 until 2022, went into detail about his past struggles, his EastEnders exit and recalled his wife Joanne Mas' reaction to the cheating scandals that plagued their relationship in 2000.
Danny explains he went to the treatment centre in South Africa where he flew six years ago after feeling like "a lost soul" adding during the interview that he shunned centres like The Priory, as he didn't want "linen sheets or candles or any of that b*****ks", and explains how he wanted a place where he'd have to sleep in a dorm "and have to scrub the khazis".
The Mick Carter actor went on to discuss his relationship with his father and male abandonment issues and how he felt like an imposter before seeking out therapy and mental health services.
He said: "When you go to therapy, fame doesn't exist. It's stripped away.
"You have to learn to be true to yourself. That's what you need to be every single day when you open your eyes and bounce out of bed."
During the revealing and candid chat, Danny recalls learning of his father, a painter and decorator, leaving their family home when he was just 13, and the tragic death of his grandad only a few years later which sparked his trauma.
The Football Factory actor muses how those pivotal life experiences, as well as his mentor Harold Pinter dying in 2008, may have impacted his mental health over the years.
"I had a ‘f*** it’ button and I would destroy relationships before I could be left," Danny admits.
"Pre that, my life was spiralling out of control and I knew I needed to get a grip on it. There’s some really tragic stories of people who don’t make it out of that dark. I’ve got quite a nutty brain.
"I needed to learn how to calm down and meditation has come into my life and breath work and all this stuff that really helps me."
Danny went on to admit that he doesn't think you can ever "fill that void" but instead it is about accepting someone's flaws and coming to the realisation that no one is a perfect human being.
He adds how "men are not dealing with stuff very well" as he discusses the concerning statistic revealing men are three times more likely to take their own life via suicide than women.
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