Billie Piper “got completely hammered for three years” during her marriage to Chris Evans.

Billie Piper

Billie Piper

The former ‘Doctor Who’ star married the UK radio host in 2001 when she was 18 and he was 35, before the couple separated three years later.

And now, Billie has said she and Chris spent most of their time together being “reckless”, although she insisted they had a “very loving relationship”.

She said: “I went and got completely hammered for three years with Chris Evans. We had a really amazing time together, you know? I imagine it's what your uni years feel like. Sort of reckless, but you're learning a lot.

“It was an incredible time and not to undermine our relationship because we also had a very loving relationship. It wasn't just, oh we're getting, going out, getting f*****. We had a very caring, loving relationship.”

Billie sought out the relationship after rising to fame as a teen pop star, as she wanted “some freedom” when she became a legal adult.

She added: “I would say I was in a dark place and just ready to have a bit of a normal life, whatever that meant for me. I was just so tired. 

“If I'm honest, I was really burnt out. I also wanted to have some freedom. I wanted to stay at home and learn how to cook properly and do what felt like healing things.”

And the ‘I Hate Suzie’ actress - who has Winston, 11, and Eugene, eight, with her second husband Laurence Fox, and 21-month-old daughter Tallulah with her boyfriend Johnny Lloyd - also praised Chris for giving her valuable advice on dealing with criticism.

Speaking to her ‘Doctor Who’ co-star David Tennant on his ‘David Tennant Does A Podcast With…’ series, she said: “I didn't pay much attention to it. He taught me how to not do that. And then, with ‘Doctor Who’, I had a sniff of it, but I didn't really know.

“Of course, we didn't have smartphones, so you weren't constantly being reminded ... So I just went for it. I wanted to prove myself as an actress. That was my goal. I wanted to prove it to myself, to my family and to the dream I had as a child.”