Coronation Street’s Tommy actor Chris Fountain had mental health problems after firing from soap

Coronation Street's Tommy actor Chris Fountain has discussed the "downward spiral" his mental health took after he was fired from the soap in 2013.

Chris, 35, who has also appeared in Hollyoaks, played Tommy Duckworth from 2011 until his sacking, which occurred after a video surfaced in which he rapped about rape.

Some of the lines from the rap included: “I will **** anybody up in the worst way, rape a b***h on her birthday”.

In 2013, an ITV spokesman said the actor's contract had been terminated "as a result of the unacceptable comments he made in a number of online clips”.

Chris has struggled to get work ever since, and he's often been open about the effects of losing his coveted role on his mental health.

Speaking on Scott Thomas's Learning As I Go podcast, Chris explained that his mental health took a bad turn after his dismissal from Coronation Street.

He said: "That singular week in August 2013 just blew my entire life apart.

"All the foundations of what I'd built as a career just completely came crashing down.

"And it was the start of a real downward spiral in terms of my mental health, my confidence."

Chris has also faced some major physical health scares, and just a few months ago, he underwent heart surgery after suffering a stroke last year, which left him unable to speak.

Speaking on Scott's podcast, Chris said that he had developed a level of resilience that is "untouchable" after everything life has thrown at him.

After the offensive rap video came out in 2013, Chris issued an apology, in which he insisted that he meant no harm by the lyrics.

In a statement, he said: “I can’t condone anything that I said. I’m ashamed of it, I’m embarrassed of it, but at the time, I wasn’t thinking, ‘Yeah, I want to be really vicious towards women’. That wasn’t the case at all."

And adding: "I’ve got more respect for women probably than men, because the way that I was brought up and the passion and care and protection I’ve had from women has been incredible throughout my life."

After undergoing his heart surgery in May, Chris gave his social media followers an update from his hospital bed, as he assured them the surgery had gone well.

Explaining the procedure, Chris said: "What they do is, go in through my groin, go up to my heart and put this thing through where the hole is, and it leaves a metal umbrella, and they pull it through, it leaves another little metal umbrella at the other side," he said.

The soap star continued: "Then my heart grows around it, and hopefully, that should mean no more strokes, and I'll have a little bionic heart."

Chris admitted that while it was a "little bit nerve-wracking", the heart procedure has a success rate of 99.9% successful.

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