Hollyoaks actor Joe Tracini, the son of comedian Joe Pasquale, has opened up about his 'drug taking and suicide attempt' in an emotional video.
The 30-year-old actor, who plays Dennis Savage in the Channel 4 soap, has spoken out at the beginning of Mental Health Awareness Week to share his experiences in the hope helping others.
In the video posted on Twitter , Joe admitted he had battled drug and alcohol addictions and had been to rehab on several occasions.
As part of the video Joe shared a clip from 2012 which shows him apparently high on drugs in order to show the effects it had on him at the time.
Inside pregnant Hayley Tamaddon's rocky romances as she finally finds love
In the raw video, Joe starts by admitting: "I was a drug addict, I was an alcoholic, I went to three rehabs.
"I am nearly seven years clean."
He then goes on to explain the longer lasting consequences the addictions had on him.
Joe continued: "I'm over four years sober and I have been left with a personality disorder called Emotional Unstable Personality Disorder, also known as BPD, which is like a Poundshop bipolar.
"It's mostly the same stuff, just some of it's a bit s***ter. That is what I'm living with."
He continued: "When you are living with this sort of stuff, you get asked a lot of 'why' questions. 'Why are you doing this? Why don't you just stop doing this? Why are you doing this again?'
"And the problem with that is, the person with the problems, is generally asking themselves the same questions.
"It gets to the point where you just have to wait and be there if you can for them, and hope that they ask for help before they die."
Jamie Redknapp jokes he's moving into acting and 'auditioning for Bodyguard'
Joe recalled the moment in which he was filmed crawling on his hands and knees, with what appears to be drugs paraphernalia on the table.
He revealed: "When I came out my first rehab in 2012, I asked the people who were closest to me, to film me when I was in whatever state I was in.
"They did and I'm very thankful to them for doing that, because they were just trying to help me out.
"I am going to show you something now, which was taken over 24 hours after I had taken a very sizeable overdose and I had walked out of the hospital after they had tried to get what was in me, out."
Jeremy Kyle guest Steve Dymond was 'confident about lie-detector' says fiancée
Joe went on to say that this episode almost ended in tragic circumstances as he looked to take his own life.
"I wasn't drunk, I hadn't taken anything else and this was about two weeks before I climbed over onto the wrong side of a bridge.
"This isn't fun. I don't remember the last time this was fun!"
Joe Pasquale's father tragically died of cancer after he filmed All New Monty
He concluded: "Why am I doing this? I am doing this because I can't go back and tell my family that I'm going to be alright.
"I can't go back and tell me that I'm going to be alright. And even if I could, I would have to tell him that the worst things he's ever going to do, he hasn't done yet.
"The drinks and the drugs were a symptom of a bigger problem. And if I'd found the bigger problem quicker, I would have hurt less people.
"So I'm doing it to try and make that worth something."
If you need to speak to someone, Samaritans are available 24/7 by calling 116 123 or by emailing jo@samaritans.org
