Richard Blackwood tried to shoot himself after bankruptcy

ichard Blackwood once tried to shoot himself - but his ex saved his life by knocking the gun out of his hand.

The \'Hollyoaks\' actor has previously admitted he was left contemplating suicide after going bankrupt, and he has now revealed he got a gun and put it in his mouth ready to pull the trigger, but his ex-girlfriend, Samia Stokes, saved him.

He said: "In terms of the suicide, and only the people that were there really know.

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"I don\'t have it now and it\'s way past, but I tried to shoot myself.

"People think that I tried to do it in other ways, but I had a strap and I went to pull the trigger and someone with me at the time hit it out of my hand."

The 48-year-old star - who plays Felix Westwood on the Channel 4 soap - revealed Samia had left the room after telling him not to shoot himself, but then she saved him by "running back in and knocking it [the gun]" out of his hand "before [he] pulled it".

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Speaking in an interview on Instagram, he added: "How she stopped me from doing it, is that she picked it up and she goes, \'I\'ll shoot myself at first then you shoot you.\'

"And that\'s how ... that\'s the truth. People don\'t really know that, but now you know. I put it in my mouth.

"She was trying to talk me out of it."

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The former \'EastEnders\' star recently admitted he had "10 years of hardship" after going bankrupt, but he was determined to make it as a successful actor.

He said: "I\'m a true believer that when it comes to things in life that you want it\'s never always going to be smooth sailing.

"I guess I had 10 years of hardship from when I went bankrupt and those were the moments where most people would have given up.

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"People would understand. But now I\'ve come through the other side, it\'s a testimony to the fact that if you want something bad enough you have to go through the part that\'s dark and a bit misty."