HOLLYOAKS star James Sutton has revealed he was using cocaine during his time on the soap to cope with the pressures of fame.
The actor played John Paul McQueen for 20 years on the show, having joined in 2006.
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James Sutton has opened up about his past battles with addiction Credit: John Reynolds podcast
James played Paul McQueen for more than 20 years Credit: C4
But behind the scenes he had become dependent on drugs and alcohol to get him through it — even having drugs delivered to him through lockdown.
He said: “Drugs and alcohol played a huge part [in my life] from the age of about 21, 22 [as a coping mechanism].
“Whoever introduced cocaine into my life, all of a sudden I was good, I was confident, I’m fine, I can handle all of this.”
James said he chose “drinking, powders and pills” over dealing with his own struggles at the time.
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The soap star hit the gym hard and is now incredibly buff Credit: Instagram
James said he had drugs posted through his letterbox at his lowest ebb Credit: LIME PICTURES
He added: “I can’t watch a lot of the work I did on Hollyoaks.
“I can’t look back and watch it now because I wasn’t doing my best work.
“I was turning up on time, I knew my lines, and I was nominated for awards so there was clearly some talent somewhere but I’d love to go back and do it all with a clear head.”
But during lockdown after years of abusing drugs, James said his drug abuse got even worse and that made him get clean.
He added on the John Reynolds podcast: “I did it myself. It’s really dark, and it’s really hard to explain to people who haven’t been through it. I got to a stage where lockdown was the killer.
“The wheels just fell off. My marriage was already falling apart because of my behaviour, very very selfish, not present, not giving my wife any of the love and support that she needed. I feel very guilty about that now.
“And then lockdown hit. We were furloughed for three months. I was in the house for three months, getting drugs posted through the letter box, and no excuse to do anything other than get high and drink. I got into online gambling. It was a complete mess.
“And then my brother got diagnosed with leukaemia and we couldn’t visit him because of covid. He was getting injections into his spine in Australia and I was in the house getting messed up making really poor decisions.”
The actor turned to fitness and found a way to break the cycle, becoming sober and changing his life.
It also led to him quitting the soap and launching an OnlyFans page that has seen him almost make his first million.
And speaking separately, James has ruled out EVER returning to Hollyoaks.
Despite others like Steph Waring making their own comebacks, James will not reprise his role.
He said: “I’m done, yeah I’m done.
“I’m done. They didn’t kill me off but I’m done. I think I’d exhausted everything that there was left to do with that character.
“The show changed a lot in the last couple of years, really sad. All financial really but a lot of cutbacks, a lot of people lost their jobs.
“It went from five episodes to three episodes which was really problematic. The way the contracts are set up on Hollyoaks, you get paid per episode so if you’ve got two less episodes a week and a huge cast…
He added on the Marvyn Harrison podcast: “The direction of travel I didn’t feel was a positive one for me.”
