Pete Doherty 'reveals heart failure scare'

Pete Doherty has revealed that he was in hospital on a life support machine when he was forced to cancel a series of live dates in October.

The Babyshambles frontman told NME that the "exhaustion" he was suffering from, which led to axed solo shows in Belfast, Dublin and Galway, was in fact highly serious.

"If I hadn't been on a life support machine I'd have been in Ireland," the 30-year-old said of his stay in Swindon's Great Western Hospital. "But my heart stopped."

Doherty, who has a medical implant that negates the effects of heroin and cocaine, claimed that drugs were not the reason for his hospitalisation.

"[Doctors] immediately thought that it was to do with drugs but it wasn't," he continued. "What happened? Well, I don't know. I don't remember. I was running into the walls, making steering wheel signs with my hands. And then I just… stopped. My body just stopped."

The singer explained that he was given the all-clear following an overnight stay and is now looking forward to Babyshambles' December tour. "A tour's just what the doctor ordered," he added.