United Kingdom, May 4 -- Danny Dyer believes his stint in rehab saved his life because he was popping pills "like Smarties".

The Rivals actor, 48, checked into a clinic in South Africa a decade ago as he was battling an addiction to cocaine and diazepam and he is convinced the decision to get clean saved him from total destruction but it felt a lot like "prison".

He told the Guardian newspaper: "I got to a point when I said: 'I'm going to die, I'm destroying everybody around me' ... I had to get out of the country. The fame and the ego were raging, so I needed to go somewhere where no one knew the f*** who I was.

"You're broken down again. You're a number in there. No one gives a s*** about your job or your ego. You're scrubbing toilet...