Coronation Street star Charlie Lawson boasted about his drunken nights out with Katie Price and gave an insight into his former wild lifestyle.
The soap actor, 65, who played Jim McDonald, said he and the glamor model, 46, would take “anything we could get our hands on.”
Sharing insight into his partying days in his autobiography That’s Life, Charlie revealed he had previously tried cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, LSD, speed and cannabis.
Charlie also revealed that at the height of his alcohol and drug abuse, he drank more than a bottle of whiskey in a night.
Of his friendship with Katie Price, he writes: “I had always gotten on well with her, although most of the time we were at three winds, at 3 in the morning, under the influence of whatever we could get our hands on.”
“I’ve always had a soft spot for Pricey. I’ve always felt that both her friends and boyfriends have let her down.’
Coronation Street star Charlie Lawson boasted about his drunken nights out with Katie Price and gave an insight into his former wild lifestyle.
The soap actor, 65, who played Jim McDonald, said he and the glamor model, 46, would take “anything we could get our hands on.”
While Charlie admitted he was introduced to “most drugs,” he said he had a preference for cocaine and speed, which left him “bouncing off the walls.”
Charlie previously publicly apologized to his daughter Laura, as he admitted he used to put “drink, drugs and partying” first.
He confessed that he was “pretty desperate” as a father while his only son was at boarding school in a 2019 interview on Eamonn Mallie’s Face to Face.
The Northern Irish actor spoke candidly about his life as the father of former police officer Laura.
He said: ‘I was quite hopeless as a father. (Boarding school) made me useless with children. I wasn’t interested at all.
‘My grandchildren adore me and for some reason I get along well with them. But to my own daughter I can offer nothing but my sincerest apologies for the way I behaved because I was so selfish.’
Charles, who has been with his partner Debbie for more than 15 years, previously revealed he left his family because he was “unhappy” in his first marriage, as Laura was just seven at the time of her parents’ separation.
The My Mother and Other Strangers star added: “I left home because I was having a good time.
The Corrie star confessed he was “pretty hopeless” as a parent while his only son (pictured) was at boarding school in an interview with Eamonn Mallie’s Face to Face.
Sincere: ‘I was a pretty desperate father. (Boarding school) made me useless with children. “I wasn’t interested at all,” the Northern Irish star shared.
Happier: Charles reflected on his relationship with current partner Debbie Stanley and insisted she had changed his ‘life for the better’.
Long period: This year marks the screen star’s 30th birthday as Jim McDonald in ITV soap Coronation Street (pictured alongside Beverley Callard)
“I cared more about drink, drugs and having fun than I did about my family, which is a disgusting thing to admit, but unfortunately that’s the truth.” I’m trying to make amends now.’
In October, Charlie revealed that a “violent ex” nearly drove him to suicide after “years of physical abuse.”
talking to the sun, The actor said he was a terrified victim while playing wife beater Jim on screen.
He still has a scar from an attack and was “depressed about what was happening and had been prescribed pills” while he was with his wife Lesley Bond.
Lesley, who was Corrie’s make-up artist, married Charlie in 1999 and died aged 55 in 2010.
Their wedding day at Lucknam Park, Wilts, was marked by violence, the Northern Irish actor said.
He remembers: ‘We met another couple who were getting married there at the same time.
Later, Lesley accused me of flirting with the girlfriend and slapped me so hard I almost fell over.
The 65-year-old married Lesley (pictured), who was Corrie’s make-up artist, in 1999.
‘A few weeks later, at home, he became angry and attacked me with an empty bottle. I loved her very much, but she was very, very sick, bless her.
Charlie met Lesley on set in early 1994, when he was 35 and had been married to someone else for 12 years.
Their relationship led him to leave his first wife, Suzie, with whom he shared his daughter Laura.
The first incident of domestic abuse occurred when Lesley slapped Charlie after he was outside chatting “innocently to a neighbor while taking out the bins” because she was convinced he was having an affair.
He said Lesley had been “seriously addicted” to the prescription drug Valium, making her “paranoid”.
He also revealed that she punched him in the side of the neck while he was driving, which almost caused him to crash.
The scar visible on his body is from a scissors attack, he says, which led him to consider taking his own life.
Jim McDonald was a former member of the squad who abused his wife Liz (Beverley Callard)
His character also had two sons, Steve and Andy, played by Simon Gregson and Nick Cochrane (pictured).
Charlie had played Jim in Coronation Street from 1989 to 2000 and has since returned regularly for stints. He was last seen on the show in 2018 (pictured)
He said: ‘I knew life couldn’t go on like this. Leaving her would break my heart but if she weren’t here everything would be solved. He could go on with his life and he wouldn’t feel any more pain.’
Luckily, Charlie called her close friend Eva Pope, who had played waitress Tanya Pooley on the soap.
After their conversation, he packed his bags and left the house while Lesley was sleeping after Eva told him, “Get your ass over here right now.”
But Charlie returned home and was attacked again, prompting him to “push her to the ground.”
Charlie had played Jim in Coronation Street from 1989 to 2000 and has since returned regularly for stints.
The character was an ex-squaddie who abused his wife Liz (Beverley Callard) and sons Steve and Andy, played by Simon Gregson and Nick Cochrane.
Charlie (pictured June 2024) says a visible scar on his body is from a scissor attack, leading him to consider taking his own life.
Charlie is currently married to his third wife, Debbie (pictured).
Offset, Charlie was known for enjoying the Manchester nightlife along with his accomplice Phil Middlemiss, who played bookie Des Barnes.
They were regularly seen at the La Gitane club in Manchester, where they drank with Manchester United footballers and singer Lisa Stansfield.
Charlie admitted the pair would be there “until breakfast time” and would head straight to Granada (Studios) to film.
Charlie is currently married to his third wife, Debbie, 60. They were together when he discovered that Lesley had died of hypothermia at her Oxford home.
He was asked to identify Lesley’s body and then handed over her ashes, which he said he scattered “on his favorite beach in the Highlands”.
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