Emmerdale star Louise Marwood has admitted she battled a "crippling" cocaine addition after she quit the ITV soap.
The actress played Home Farm multi-millionaire Chrissie White for three years until her character was killed off in a dramatic car crash in 2018.
She has since endured rehab four times after leaving the Yorkshire Dales soap.
Louise completed her final programme of therapy in 2021 but says she is "not there yet".
"I am a much better person because of what I went through. Not there yet. I'm not perfect. Progress not perfection in all things," she admitted.
The actress has launched a GoFundMe page to help finance a one-woman show with two special performances at The Rosemary Branch in London this summer.
"Having completely decimated my life, this appeal is asking for the opportunity to put my life back together again," she told MailOnline.
Louise added: "I was very unwell for a very long time and because of that I want to use my platform to help other people and that's what I'm asking for the opportunity to do really.
She has created the show Rita Lynn: The Life Coach Who Wanted To Die, because "I lived it and I have a story to tell".
The Emmerdale star left the soap in a mass exodus of the show, with 10 stars leaving in the space of one year.
In 2022, Louise headed to the cobbles as she made an appearance on Coronation Street.
She was cast as part of a dramatic love triangle to play Phill Whittaker’s devious ex-wife Camilla in the ITV soap.
Earlier in her career, Louise enjoyed parts in Hollyoaks: Let Loose, The Royal and Law and Order: UK and then after her Emmerdale exit, she was spotted popping up in Casualty.
Speaking about her exit at the time, Louise said: "I am very sad actually because we have become really close.
"Myself, Ryan Hawley (Robert), Tom Atkinson (Lachlan) and John Bowe (Lawrence) all came into the show at the same time.
“And it feels like Emily Head (Rebecca) has been here all the time too, as we've become so close.
"Obviously we'll stay friends forever, but I'm not going to see them every day, so that will take a while to sink in."
She added: “It's a hell of a gamble to take as you never know what is around the corner, but that quite excites me."
