Strictly Come Dancing star Lee Ryan has opened up about his alcohol addiction, revealing that he used to drink a bottle of whiskey a night while going through bankruptcy.
Lee admitted that his drinking ruined his vocal chords, and that he ignored warnings from his doctor about his problem.
He told the Daily Star on Sunday: "If I had to quantify it, I could safely say at that point in my life, I was drinking around a bottle of whisky a night."
"It was all going in the wrong direction as they say, and I’d had warnings from my doctor, but if I’m honest I wasn’t paying them any heed because I wanted to get properly lost."
He went on to say that he realised he had a problem when he would go to the shop for milk, but return with whiskey instead.
"I felt rotten inside. I had this blackness, so much bad energy," he continued.
Lee is currently starring in Strictly Come Dancing, and has made headlines with his maybe-relationship with his dance partner, Nadiya Bychkova.
In pictures recently obtained by The Sun, the duo were seen strolling around Primrose Hill holding hands. Lee, 35, also reportedly nuzzled the cheek of Nadiya, 29.
GALLERY: all the contestants taking party in Strictly Come Dancing 2018
Strictly Come Dancing 2018 Contestants
1 of 1515th - Graeme Swan
Cricketer Graeme Swan says: "I don't have any background in dancing but can do the floss so let's hope this comes in useful!" We don't have high hopes for Graeme Swan. We are also not 100% confident of who Graeme Swan is.
2 of 1514th - Joe Sugg
A YouTuber on Strictly! Whatever next! Unless your preteen kids have access to the phone to vote (and we recommend that they do not), he hasn't got a chance.
3 of 1512th - Lee Ryan
Lee Ryan is good at many things - being a moderately popular member of Blue, getting in love triangles in Celebrity Big Brother - but dancing? Hmm. We're sceptical.
4 of 1513th - Kate Silverton
Dancing is a long way away from Kate's work as a newsreader, and we're not convinced there's an overlap between the professions...
5 of 1511th - Danny John-Jules
Danny has spent the last few months "on two wheels motorcycling around South America in pink leathers", which doesn't sound like the best of warm-ups for a dancing show...
6 of 1510th - Ashley Roberts
Yes! We know! We are all too aware that Ashley Roberts is already a dancer, so at first glimpse seems to have an unfair advantage over her other fellow contestants. This is something that the public are all to aware of, too, so will that stop them from voting? We think possibly...
7 of 159th - Seann Walsh
We've been racking our little brains all day, but we can't for the life of us begin to imagine comedian Seann Walsh dancing. He's funny, though, so we predict at least some votes.
8 of 158th - Charles Venn
Casualty star Charles gets our vote for his biceps alone, and we're predicting he'll be a bit of a surprise frontrunner this series.
9 of 157th - Faye Tozer
Having been a member of Steps, we're guessing Faye is already at least 'alright' at dancing. Which is more than can be said for many on the list.
10 of 156th - Vick Hope
Vick is already a keen dancer, so we're guessing that will help her out of the Joe Sugg-esque rut of only having younger fans...
11 of 155th - Susannah Constantine
We're calling it. Susannah will be this year's 'joke contestant' up there with Ann Widdecombe and Ed Balls. She will go far. We will love her.
12 of 154th - Stacey Dooley
Despite the fact that Stacey is a journalist and film-maker and in no way a professional dancer, we can imagine her taking everyone by surprise and going the whole way. She will come fourth, we know it.
13 of 153rd - Doctor Ranj
Everyone's favourite doctor / general person in the world Dr Ranj will 100% go the distance. As well as (we're predicting) surprisingly good dancing skill, he has the personality to be a finalist.
14 of 152nd - Lauren Steadman
Paralympic Triathlete Lauren is as inspirational and likeable as she is sporty - which is a perfect combo for Strictly success. She'll go far.
15 of 151st - Katie Piper
We are almost certain Katie will win this series. We love her, the country loves her, and she's undoubtedly one of our favourite contestants on the list. Katie, we're rooting for ya!
An onlooker told the publication: “The dancers get very close very quickly on Strictly because of the routines, but walking hand-in-hand and cuddling up in the street after less than a week together must be a new record.
“They looked like a couple to anyone passing by — but obviously he’s famous and she is stunningly beautiful, so they attracted plenty of attention. They certainly didn’t seem embarrassed."
Strictly is on every Saturday on BBC1.