Kevin Bacon thinks his "obsession" with fame could have left him in "rehab" or "dead".
The 'Footloose' star admits the idea of becoming famous was "seductive" throughout his early career but it wasn't until he had two children, Travis and Sosie, with his wife Kyra Sedgwick, that he realised there was more to life than being a celebrity.
He told The Sun newspaper: "You can end up in rehab or dead unless there is something else in your life other than celebrity.
"People will be nice to you for no other reason than they've seen your movies.
"So what do you do to escape the obsession with fame? Get a proper life. With me it's my family, my wife and children and a handful of close friends.
Kevin admits he "broke down in tears" following a series of "film flops" throughout his late career, and claims other actors find themselves headed towards a downward spiral if their life outside their Hollywood is unfulfilled.
He added: "Those who are wrecked by celebrity have nothing else to fall back upon."
Looking back at his early career, the 55-year-old star would have some strong words of advice for his 18-year-old self.
He mused: "Don't worry so much - it's a waste of energy - and do not take yourself too seriously."

Zack Snyder is due to direct 'Justice League'.
The filmmaker has been confirmed to helm the superhero blockbuster, which will see Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman join forces to fight crime, and is expected to arrive in theatres as early as 2018 following on from as yet untitled sequel to 'Man of Steel'.
Greg Silverman, Warner Bros.' production president, revealed to the Wall Street Journal: "It will be a further expansion of this universe. 'Superman vs Batman' will lead into 'Justice League'."
A script is currently in development and Silverman confirmed they were currently casting half-robot hero Cyborg, with Broadway star Ray Fisher rumoured to be a hot favourite for the role.
Other superhero characters who appear in the original DC Comics include Aquaman, Flash and Green Lantern.
The all-star cast in the Justice League universe already includes Jesse Eisenberg, Gal Gadot and Amy Adams, with Henry Cavill reprising his role as Superman and Ben Affleck making his debut as Batman.
Warner also said there were no plans for a Wonder Woman spin-off featuring Gadot's Wonder Woman just yet, but it is a definite possibility for the future.
Sue Kroll, president of worldwide marketing, said: "That is our hope. With the right script, that could be viable. The world is ready for her."

Steven Spielberg will direct the screen adaptation of Roald Dahl's 'The BFG'.
The 67-year-old filmmaker is set to helm the picture which follows a little girl who leads the titular big, friendly giant and the Queen of England on a mission to stop the giants from eating children and Spielberg is "honoured" to bring it to the big screen.
In a statement the director said: "'The BFG' has enchanted families and their children for more than three decades. We are honoured that the Roald Dahl estate has entrusted us with this classic story."
Melissa Mathison, who last worked with Spielberg on 'E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial', will pen the script, while Frank Marshall will produce, and Michael Siegel and John Madden will executive producers, reports Variety.com.
Spielberg will begin production in 2015, with a planned 2016 release.
Meanwhile, Spielberg is reportedly set to team up with Tom Hanks for their fourth big screen collaboration after 'Saving Private Ryan,' 'Catch Me If You Can' and 'The Terminal', for an unnamed Cold War thriller.
His films have received worldwide recognition with the 1993 epic 'Schindler's List' and 1998's 'Saving Private Ryan' winning him an Oscar for Best Director, while 'Jaws' 'E.T.' and 'Jurassic Park' achieved phenomenal box office success.

Gary Barlow sent music industry bosses topless photos to land a record deal.
The 43-year-old singer has admitted he was so desperate to become famous as a teenager he sent out shirtless snaps to managers in a bid to get signed - and his efforts did the trick as he was snapped up by Nigel Martin-Smith to join Take That in 1990.
The 'Let Me Go' star was confronted with his embarrassing pictures by Nigel in new BBC One documentary, 'When Corden Met Barlow', with actor James Corden, and Gary explained: "I sent out a tape and lots of photos to lots of managers. This is what came to the office. Look at that!"
Nigel added: "How could I refuse? It looks like Annie Lennox but I knew he could be hot property."
Meanwhile, the pop boss also revealed the band's line-up - which also consists of Mark Owen, Howard Donald, Jason Orange and Robbie William - could have looked significantly different as he originally intended Mark, 42, to be the frontman.
However, Gary won him over by proving his singing ability and songwriting skills.
Nigel said: "It was going to be a completely different band until Gary came along."

Britain's Duchess Catherine really missed her dog during her Australasia tour.
The duchess, her husband Prince William and their nine-month-old son Prince George have arrived back in London after three weeks in Australia and New Zealand, and the 32-year-old royal - who was known as Kate Middleton before her marriage - was particularly excited about seeing her beloved pet Lupo again.
After being presented with a toy for the black cocker spaniel - who Catherine and William adopted two years ago - by a young girl outside the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, Australia last Thursday (24.04.14), Catherine said: "Oh, thank you so much. Everyone is giving me presents for George but this is the first present I've received for Lupo. Nobody knows how much I'm missing my own dog... I really miss him. He'll be so happy to have it to play with."
The family - who flew home on Friday (25.04.14) - enjoyed their visit to New Zealand and Australia and are already looking forward to returning.
Speaking on Thursday, William said: "Reluctantly, Catherine, George and I leave Australia tomorrow.
"Thank you for the warmth and generosity that has been shown to us during our visit. We go away with wonderful memories, and George goes away with his cuddly wombat, which he has taken to chewing so lovingly. We greatly look forward to coming back. And when we do return, it will be to marvel again at all that Australia is, and will yet become."

Simon Cowell has lost £4 million on 'I Can't Sing!'.
The critically-acclaimed stage show - which is based on 'The X Factor', is to close on May 10, just six weeks after it opened at the London Palladium, and it has now emerged that it is one of the most expensive shows ever to have such a short run.
Simon's company Syco put up more than half of the £7 million budget for the production - which was written by Harry HIll and stars Nigel Harman - with Stage Entertainment UK, Glass Half Full Productions and Just For Laugh Theatricals also investing.
A number of factors are believed to have contributed to the closure of the show, including steep ticket prices, with the most expensive seats going for a staggering £87.50.
One source said: "The show just didn't convince X Factor fans outside London it was worth making the trek and forking out a small fortune.
"London theatregoers are a particular bunch and many would say they aren't fans of Simon and his shows."
However, theatre insiders are still shocked by the show closing so early as it was expected to run for at least six months.
The source added to The Sun newspaper: "Tickets just weren't selling and everyone in theatre was saying it would only last six months.
"That it's been pulled so quickly has stunned us all. Ticket sales must have been even worse than we all thought."

Drew Barrymore finds it "shocking" that her father walked away from his family.
The 39-year-old actress - who gave birth to her second daughter, Frankie, last week - insists she is "OK" with the fact her dad John Barrymore wasn't around for her and her mother Jaid very much when she was a child but can't understand his actions.
She said: "My parents split up before I was born and my dad was just never capable of being a father. It's something I really accepted and became OK with early on.
"But it's shocking to me that someone can make that choice. As much as I accepted it with him, I could never accept it in a partner...for some people showing up is just not possible and that is incredibly frustrating.
"When you become a parent, and think about what kids need, it is very emotional."
The 'Blended' actress - who also has 19-month-old daughter Olive with husband Will Kopelman - is a hands-on mother and loves spending time just with her family.
In an interview conducted before she gave birth to Frankie, she told Red magazine: "I am loving being a mom..
"We spend every weekend together. We don't have a babysitter. It's just us. I can't wait to see how that's going to work out with the second one!"
Early in her pregnancy, Drew attended a cooking school with friends Cameron Diaz and Reese Witherspoon and is looking forward to furthering her culinary education this summer.
She said: "I really love cooking, it makes me so happy. But I'm terrible at it. None of it is effortless or sexy or even tastes that good for that matter, but I'm really working on it.
"I might travel somewhere to do it, and bring the family. I love cooking for Olive now, but I used to be Mrs Takeout.
"I've just never learned to cook in my life. Cameron's a great cook, and always has been. I'm just trying to catch up to that."

Tori Spelling was recently hospitalised for almost a week.
The 'True Tori' star spent at least six days at a medical facility, and was seen heading home from the undisclosed clinic on Saturday (26.04.14) afternoon, still with a pink hospital band on her wrist, though it is unclear what she was being treated for.
Despite her marital problems with Dean McDermott - who has confessed to cheating on her late last year - her spouse was by her side throughout her stay in hospital.
A source told E! News: "Dean would arrive by 10am and didn't leave until 8 most nights. He seemed very stressed out and worried.
''He would bring food and often only left Tori to go outside to catch some air or make a phone call.''
The 40-year-old actress - who has children Liam, seven, Stella, five, Hattie, two, and Finn, 20 months, with Dean - recently admitted her spouse "broke her heart" when he admitted to cheating on her with 28-year-old Emily Goodhand during a trip to Toronto, but she wants to work through their problems for the sake of their kids.
She said: "There are children involved. For their sakes, I need to try to figure this out.
"You don't stop loving someone because they do something really bad to you. He was my soul mate, but he completely broke my heart. It makes you not trust anything that's happened in your relationship. But until I figure it out, I don't want my kids to know any different.
"I owe this relationship more than just saying something horrible happened and dismissing it. I need to figure out if he can change."

Liam Payne has joined Instagram.
The One Direction hunk already has almost 600,000 fans on the social media site after signing up at the weekend and has so far posted six photographs from the band's 'Where We Are Tour'.
He took to Twitter last night (27.04.14) to tell followers he was setting up an account, writing: "Right I'm gunna try figure this Instagram sh*t out I sound like a grandad (sic)."
He added his profile name, posting: "Insta ... fakeliampayne."
Liam then posted images of him with friends on tour, a photograph of his Sunday dinner, his tour shoes and a snap of himself after the band's gig, accompanied with the caption: "What a showwwwwwwwwww ahhhhh I love my job... MUTHAF@#!N CRAZZZYYYYY (sic)"
He later posted: "half a million followers on my Instagram in half a day aha crazy times hope that I can make my insta fun for u (sic)."
However, the 'Little Things' hitmaker could become the victim of hacking as fans have been doing their best to guess his Instagram password.
He tweeted: "Lmao can people stop trying to break into my Instagram I only just got lol that sh*ts clogging up my mail (sic)."
The 20-year-old star later added: "Stop trying to guess my password!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My emails going crazy with junk and I need it to make u all nice music for new albums!! (sic)"
Meanwhile, Liam and his band mates - Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik and Niall Horan - have kicked off their first stadium tour, playing 69 dates across the world.

Bar Refaeli wants an intimate wedding.
The 28-year-old model has been linked to businessman Adi Ezra and although she hasn't confirmed they are dating, she admits her current relationship is getting serious.
Questioned on whether she can hear wedding bells in the future, she explained: "My boyfriend will hear my answer to that, so I better say yes! The wedding of my dreams is very simple, not a lot of people, not in a big place, maybe outdoors, barefoot."
Bar - who previously dated 'Wolf of Wall Street' star Leonardo DiCaprio for four years until 2009 - also insists she doesn't need huge gestures to feel loved but prefers intimate tokens of affection like looking into her boyfriend's eyes.
Talking to Britain's HELLO magazine, she said: "I'm in a relationship, there's a special guy in my life, we're not talking marriage yet.
"[I am] a romantic person, but a very solid romantic person.
"I like basic things - when somebody tells me he loves me, or when I say, 'I love you'. I really mean it, I don't just say it, so that's romantic to me.
"I don't need to go to the beach and have a picnic with wine in a basket to feel romantic. I feel romantic when I look into my boyfriend's eyes - that's enough for me."

Jude Law is to star in 'Genius'. The 'Talented Mr. Ripley' actor will appear opposite Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman in the movie, which is based on A. Scott Berg's biography of editor Max Perkins. Perkins worked with literary great Thomas Wolfe on a ...

Kanye West is planning to release a spoken word album.
The 'Bound 2' hitmaker will reportedly make the three-hour recording available on vinyl, and it will feature everything from his views on the environment to life with fiancee Kim Kardashian and their 10-month-old daughter North.
A source said: "Kanye loves the sound of his own voice and this will be the ultimate in self-indulgence.
"He has very strong views on everything from music and art to politics and the environment. He's forever recording his opinions on tape.
"He says he's doing it for posterity and thought about turning them into a book or even donating them to a museum."
Kanye is said to be excited by the "groundbreaking" record and has set his sights on it winning awards.
The source told The Sun newspaper: "Kanye likes to push the boundaries and thinks this is very groundbreaking. He's hoping it'll win him a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album."
And for fans who are particularly enamoured by the project, there will be a special extended version of the album available for download.
The source said: "What's more, he's planning on making 24 hours of his speech recording available to download so fans can listen to his views round the clock."