Jason Donovan turned to drugs because he wanted to 'be cool'

Jason Donovan has admitted he got into drugs because he wanted to “be cool” but said he managed to get out at “the right time”.

The Neighbours and Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat actor - who has long been open about battling addiction - rebelled against his clean-cut image and turned to drugs in the late 80s and 90s.

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At one point the star was getting through several grams of cocaine a day.

Reflecting on addiction, he said: “No life is perfect, you know, and I’m far from it.

“I got very lucky very young, I got a little side-tracked by my own desire to think that by going out there and ‘crashing the car’, as I see it, that I was going to be cool.

“I always thought coming out of Joseph when I looked at myself in a loin-cloth and a pair of white fluffy socks that I was turning into something I wasn’t.”

Now 51 and a father-of three, Donovan said he has learned from the experience.

He said of his roles: “The irony in life is that's as cool as it was going to get, it just takes time to mature, and seem a little more palatable.

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“I now know what I don't want to do in my life, I'm very honest about that period.

“Do I regret it?

“Not really.

“It was wasted time. There were a lot of relationships that suffered.

“But I got out at the right time and I've learned from it.”

The singer went on: “There are a lot of life experiences that I'm aware of that maybe other people wouldn't be, having not experienced that.”

But he said he would not like his children to go down the same path.

“There's nothing cool about taking drugs, full stop,” he said.