Waterloo Road’s Richard: My 20-year heroin battle triggered by stage fright
ACTOR Richard Mylan yesterday revealed his 20-year battle with heroin addiction after resorting to illegal drugs to tackle crippling stage anxiety.
The former Waterloo Road and The Bill star said he got hooked when he started working in London’s West End, where drugs were rife and many colleagues were functioning addicts.
Mr Mylan, 48, said: ‘It was the biggest mistake I ever made. I was in the West End from a young age and there was lots of alcohol and recreational drugs, and that cemented certain negative behaviours.
‘My personal relationships suffered, my work relationships suffered and it robbed me of my inner ambition,’ he told the BBC.
‘I managed to work, I managed around relationships and things to a degree, but nothing ever lasted because ultimately it was chaos. It took chunks of my life away from me.’ The Welshman, who has two sons, Jaco, 16, and two-year-old Acen, said he sought help ten years ago when his addiction got ‘dangerously worse’ during a ‘cycle of abuse’ that led him to his ‘absolute lowest’.
‘Ultimately, I’d had enough of that cycle of being dragged under and coming up for air, then being dragged under again. You get so beaten down by that process,’ he said. ‘I was almost like washed up on a shoreline half dead, thinking I’ve had enough. I wanted to live and be happy.’
The actor said his wife Tammie gave him unconditional support. Now he wants to confront the stigma of drug addiction and help others.
‘There are so many people out there who would never ever come forward because the stigma is so great,’ he said. ‘We must challenge stigma, because if we have any chance of fellow addicts recovering we have to alleviate that because it keeps people down.
‘People are complicated and need help, support and empathy. Everybody will know somebody who is in a similar position to me.’
Mr Mylan, whose roles have included deputy headteacher Simon Lowsley in the school-based BBC TV drama Waterloo Road and starring alongside Sheridan Smith in the BBC Three series Grownups, now helps recovering addicts, working with the South Wales-based substance misuse charity Adferiad.
Mr Mylan appealed to doctors to treat addicts properly, adding: ‘Only the right medication from your GP to battle with your depression, anxiety or bipolar can help. Addiction is robbing people of themselves.’
Mr Mylan won two Welsh Baftas for a documentary which he made with his eldest son Jaco about living with autism.