Paul Danan looked worlds away from his old self as he appeared on The Dozen with Liam Tuffs podcast.
The former Hollyoaks star, 45, revisited his past drug addiction, his near-fatal heroin overdose and bedding over one thousand women during the candid interview.
The actor, who played Sol Patrick in the soap, sported thick blonde curly hair and looked noticeably different from his soap days when he sported a buzzcut.
During the chat, Paul recalled overdosing on heroin shortly after he returned from a rehab stint in South Africa after his time on Hollyoaks.
Speaking about the ordeal, he said: 'It took a bad route, a very dark route. Drugs, I had an overdose. I came out of rehab in South Africa. The psychiatrist had put me on all these anti-psychotics. I was there for months.
Paul Danan looked worlds away from his Hollyoaks heyday on The Dozen with Liam Tuffs podcast as he detailed his near-fatal heroin overdose and bedding over 1,000 women
The actor, who played Sol Patrick, detailed his rehabs stints and trying to make it in Hollywood (pictured on Hollyoaks)
The actor, who played Sol Patrick in the soap, sported thick blonde curly hair and looked noticeably different from his soap days when he sported a buzzcut (pictured in 2001)
'I got back home and my parents were so proud of me. I was fat and horrible and didn't feel like myself.'
Paul went out to get some cocaine but also ended up buying heroin which he had never taken before.He said: 'They gave me my keys and car and I detoured and got some gear, some coke. I got a bag of brown [heroin] which I'd never done before.
'I snorted it and shouldn't have snorted it because that's dangerous. I ended up having an overdose really bad.'
Paul returned home and went to bed but his parents realised something was wrong and called an ambulance.
He said: 'My mum found me and I couldn't breath, it was terrible. Apparently my mum heard me gagging on my last breath. She came into the room and couldn't wake me up.
'My little brother was next door which was the saddes thing about it because still to this day he's been traumatised by it.
'She called the ambulance and luckily they were parked down the end of the road. They came and said what has he taken and she said he doesn't do drugs. They knew they had to give me the antidote. F**k me, it was Pulp Fiction.
Paul's battle with drug addiction first began after he left Hollyoaks in 2001 after four years playing Sol (pictured in 2005)
After Hollyoaks, Paul memorably appeared on Celebrity Love Island (pictured with Lady Isabella Hervey on the show)
He added: 'All I could see was my dad's face at the end of the ambulance. My mum said to me she'd already said goodbye to me. I saw my dad's face and could see this look of absolute digust and hate, but relief, "Oh my God, he's alive." '
Elsewhere during the interview, Paul spoke about his many flings and estimated he has slept with over one thousand women.
Asked how many women he has slept with, he replied: 'I don't know. I think we're definitely in the higher range. More than a thousand, yeah.'
Paul admitted he misses his wild younger days, saying those types of casual flings don't happen as much for him anymore.
He said: 'I really miss it. It don't happen like it used to. You have to be careful if you're looking at someone who is 25, is that wrong, is that right?
'Are you alright to fancy someone who's 25, 30? They're not on your level at 45. I am looking more at the 30 range, I need to be attracted.'
Paul recalled overdosing on heroin shortly after he returned from a rehab stint in South Africa after his time on Hollyoaks
Paul's battle with drug addiction first began after he left Hollyoaks in 2001 after four years playing Sol.
He moved to Los Angeles in an attempt to make it in Hollywood but not having family or friends nearby caused him to use drugs frequently.
He said: 'They were selling me as this young Jude Law type guy. You can't party and do well in Hollywood. You've got to be healthy. It was cool but I ended up getting into the wrong type of routine of using drugs.
'I can't handle rejection but I choose the one job that gives you more rejection than any other job. I'm auditioning for big, big movies.
'A lot of the time my life revolved around getting stoned, going to a gig, doing a pill or coke. There was always drugs involved.
'America is very drug orientated if you're young. I was in my twenties. The one thing I needed was family or friends around me and I didn't. It was like the drugs filled that void, they were my friend.'
Paul also claimed during the chat he won a small role in the Hollywood comedy Cheaper By The Dozen before the casting agents ultimately decided on Ashton Kutcher for the part.
The actor previously told how he relapsed during the first Covid-19 lockdown in the spring of 2020, and ended up homeless (Pictured in May 2021)
The actor previously told how he relapsed during the first Covid-19 lockdown in the spring of 2020, and ended up homeless - but later turned his life around and is now helping others with addiction problems.
He ended up spending three and a half months in rehab, after having previously spent 'about £1million on rehab and recovery' over the years.
Paul told The Sun that he decided to move in with his parents in Essex, so that he wouldn't be on his own in Hertfordshire during the first lockdown in March 2020.
He believed he'd be fine because he hadn't touched drugs in a year and a half.The Hollyoaks star revealed that - due to his dad being in the high risk category - he couldn't even meet people for walks, and couldn't she his son DeNiro, 6, who was in London with Paul's ex.
Paul recalled getting 'really bad cabin fever' and began feeling 'frustrated' as if he was 'going mad,' but gave notice on his flat in May 2020 with no end in sight for
Purisaki Pflaster Scam the restrictions, because he didn't want to keep paying rent when he wasn't there.
Unfortunately, when he went to clear out the flat, the soap star spotted an empty bag of cocaine, which 'triggered something' and left him wanting drugs again.
He told the publication: 'I ended up bumping into someone outside and getting some cocaine from them. It was a moment of like, "F**k it, I'm not going to get another chance." Then I went back to my parents and used.
'I only had a few lines but it was enough to get the taste again. They say one line is too many, a thousand is never enough, and that's what it's like.
'I felt terrible, so guilty and ashamed. I reckon over the years I've spent about £1million on rehab and recovery, and yet there I was doing it all again.'
Unable to cope living with his parents, Paul decided to attempt to detox by staying with a friend of a friend in Bournemouth.
Recovery: The Hollyoaks star ended up spending three and a half months in rehab, after having previously spent 'about £1million on rehab and recovery' over the years (Pictured in February)
However, the pair fell out, with the friend 'dumping' paul - who 'wasn't really ready to get clean' - at the station and leaving him there.
The actor couldn't get into a hotel because of lockdown, so ended up going for a walk along the beach 'and scoring some drugs.'
Paul recalled meeting 'dodgy guys' who ended up stealing some of his belongings, and suddenly it was midnight, and he had nowhere to go.
He admitted: 'It got scary. I just walked the streets trying to get into places but every hotel said no to me and I was in tears. I was basically homeless.