David Tennant "wasn’t coping at all" after finding fame on ‘Doctor Who’.
The 48-year-old actor was thrust into the spotlight when he landed the iconic role of the Doctor in the long running BBC sci-fi show, which he held from 2005 to 2010.
And now, the star has said he was so overwhelmed by the effect of his household name status that he sought therapy from "a very lovely older lady".
He said: "The way you imagine it’s going to be is not the way it is at all. It’s much more exposing, and the imaginative leap you’ve had that it will give you status or make you invulnerable is all wrong. It makes you very vulnerable, and very raw.
"I remember way back, when I’d be in a room and someone well known would walk in, and there’s that sort of whisper goes around the room and everyone looks. And you imagine being that person is somehow powerful.
"When you are that person, you walk into a room and everyone turns their head and whispers, and you feel like you’re being squashed. You feel intimidated, and you feel scared, actually.
"[I] wasn’t coping at all, [so I sought help from] a very lovely older lady who was very calm and normal and just helped me cope with it."
The ‘Good Omens’ star admitted he’s suffered with anxiety since he was just 10 years old, but believes the symptoms to be "classic" for an actor.
Speaking to The Sunday Times magazine, he added: "I’ve always had insecurity, a lack of self-confidence, which is classic [for an actor]. It’s why you like dressing up and pretending to be someone else."
Meanwhile, David recently revealed he’s set to become a father for the fifth time, as his wife Georgia Moffett – with whom he already has 17-year-old Ty, Olive, eight, Wilfred, six, and Doris, four – is pregnant.
Whilst David – who adopted Georgia’s son Ty in the same year that the couple married in 2011 – was appearing on ‘The Late Late Show with James Corden’ this week, show host James said: "David, we were just talking backstage, this is blowing my mind. You have four children already, your oldest is 17. You just told me you and your wife, the lovely Georgia, are expecting your fifth child."
David Tennant struggled with Doctor Who fame
