Ayda Field used her husband Robbie Williams’ struggles with addiction to get into character for her new TV show.
The 37-year-old actress stars as unstable alcoholic Sheri in ITV thrilled ‘Paranoid’ and admitted she spoke to Robbie about his own experiences so she could understand the character.
She told YOU magazine: "Rob and I have always talked very openly. When I met him [in 2006] it was just before he went to rehab for the second time. I didn’t live through a lot of the earlier stuff, but he’s talked to me about it many times over the years. How he’s felt with all that self-loathing, all that fear that you won’t get to be who you want to be, and the absolute power of addiction.
"All of the worst Rob went through went into the character I played. I made myself go to places I’ve never been, pushing myself to feel desperate, ashamed and angry, to be on the edge of that line where people write you off. I wanted to make people understand how complex those feelings are, how you can feel hopeless but at the same time try to believe you can get over it and how it feels when you fail but want to try again."
Ayda also revealed she loved playing a character who didn’t need hours of hair and make-up.
She said: "If I was to play Sheri in LA, she would be wearing Gucci and I’d be in hair and make-up for two hours. As it was, I got 20 minutes. It’s probably the worst I’ve ever looked on television but I loved that I looked properly rough.
"The description for the role was: ‘A woman who has been beautiful but has gone way past her prime due to drink and drug addictions and who wears clothes far too young for her.’ I thought: ‘I was the hot older woman in ‘Fresh Meat’ and now this is what they are thinking of me!’ I was like, ‘Rob! You’ve taken my best years and now I’m getting the haggard old drunk roles.’"
Ayda Field asked Robbie Williams for advice for playing alcoholic in Paranoid
