Johnny Depp has revealed that he turned to drinking excessive amounts of alcohol in order to deal with being a teen star.
The actor admitted that he was so uncomfortable with fame after he became an idol due to his role in TV series 21 Jump Street that he "drank his guts out" every night.
Depp told the Daily Mail newspaper: "If the choice is to be gawked at constantly or to sit in a dark room, I'd choose the dark room.
"I felt as if I had been turned into a novelty and it was mortifying.
"When I was in a social situation, I was nervous and uncomfortable. The only way I could get through it was to drink my guts out. I wasted a lot of years."
Depp, who has two children with actress and musician Vanessa Paradis, said that having a few glasses with his partner in the evening is his idea of perfection now.
He said: "A glass or two of wine before dinner is my favourite thing, watching the sunset and the kiddies playing nearby. It's perfection."
Johnny Depp's new film, The Rum Diary, opens in Ireland on November 4.
