Lee Ryan: 'Drugs could have killed me'

Lee Ryan has admitted that he is "too sensitive" to pressure at times.

The singer, who is preparing to compete at next weekend's Eurovision Song Contest with Blue, told the Daily Star Sunday that he had turned to substances to cope at the height of his fame, resulting in a period where he thought he might die.

"I think people have the wrong perception of me. I'm a sensitive person, too sensitive," he explained.

"Sometimes it gets really hard but I do need the worry and the angst to be creative. I've got that back, which I lost for a time during Blue.

"I used to go out and get tw*tted on s**t I shouldn't have. I was a naughty boy and one day I woke up and realised if I carried on, I was going to die - so I moved to America."

Speaking of his return to music, Ryan added: "I realised I missed what I was in the industry for.

"I became comfortably numb and it's nice to be back. It feels incredibly special to be with the boys again and doing what we do best."

Ryan recently described himself as a "bordering genius", due to his dyslexia and left-handedness.