Pete Doherty reveals he was offered a role in EastEnders after star June Brown tried to help him break his ‘pounds a day’ heroin addiction
Pete Doherty has revealed BBC bosses once offered him a starring role in EastEnders.
The Libertines frontman, 43, said the offer came after the late actress June Brown – who ran a detox charity – tried to help him break his “200 pounds a day” heroin addiction.
Speaking to The Mirror, he said: “There are a couple of things that have fallen through over the years that I’ve been a bit disappointed with – opportunities that have come up that I haven’t taken advantage of.”
Actor: Pete Doherty says he was “offered a lead role in EastEnders” after late actress June Brown tried to help him break his £200-a-day heroin addiction
He added: “I wanted to get a role at EastEnders at some point. The Libertines also regrouped around this time.’
Although it’s not known when the alleged offer was made, Pete’s chart-topping band reunited in both 2010 and 2014.
The frontman went on to tell the publication that he “would have loved” being an actor rather than a singer.
MailOnline has reached out to BBC officials for comment.
Savior: The late June Brown, who played Dot Cotton on the soap opera, ran a charity that helped addicts get treatment at a Thai monastery called Thamkrabok
The late June Brown, who played Dot Cotton on the soap opera, ran a charity that helped pay for addicts to get treatment at a Thai monastery called Thamkrabok.
She said at the time: “I’m a huge Libertines fan. It would be a wonderful place for Pete to kick his addiction.”
Pete flew into the facility but only lasted a few days and instead ventured to the party capital of Bangkok.
After a second stint in Thailand in 2014, the Rock said he beat his addiction “once and for all” only to relapse on his return to Margate, Kent.
Heyday: Pete flew into the facility but only lasted a few days and instead ventured into the party capital of Bangkok (pictured in 2004)
The clean frontman recently took a break from his life in France on the Glastonbury stage with his wife Katia de Vidas.
Admitting that living in France “makes it easier to be clean,” Pete previously told The Guardian: “It’s not a big drug area here. Then, of course, everything stopped. So all circumstances made it easier to be clean, even for a sneaky scoundrel like me. It just wasn’t worth the hassle.”
Known for a string of high-profile relationships in his heyday, the rocker was most notably in a tumultuous relationship with Kate Moss from 2005-2007.
Comeback: The now-clean-living frontman recently took to the Glastonbury stage with his wife Katia de Vidas on a break from his life in France (pictured).
Exes: Known for a string of high-profile relationships in his heyday, the rocker was in a tumultuous relationship with Kate Moss from 2005 to 2007 (pictured in Glastonbury in 2005).
The couple visited Glastonbury together in 2005 and continued dating when the singer was at the height of his fame and his £200 daily heroin and crack addiction.
In his memoir A Likely Lad, Pete revealed details of the relationship and described the couple’s split after a series of “scorching arguments” in which Kate hit him with his guitar.
But despite his rowdy past, which even included two months in prison, Pete is now clean and enjoying life with his wife Katia.
Katia is a keyboardist in Pete’s other band, Puta Madres – his third musical venture after The Libertines and Babyshambles.
You’re new: Katia is a keyboardist in Pete’s other band Puta Madres – his third musical venture following Libertines and Babyshambles (pictured at the 2021 wedding)