Carol McGiffin: 'I was a sex maniac'

Carol McGiffin has claimed that she behaved like a "sex maniac" when she turned 40.

The Loose Women star, who is promoting her autobiography Oh, Carol!, confessed that she went "stark raving bonkers" ten years ago.

"It could have been that the landmark age of 40 sent me over the edge or something because there was a lot of strange behaviour going on," she told The Mirror.

"It couldn't last forever. I was spending huge amounts of ­money on things I couldn't afford, like I bought this ridiculous sports car, a TVR Chimaera which is a stupid bloke's car. I don't know what I was thinking.

"Then I had my 40th birthday party where we all went to ­Stringfellows and I ended up pole-dancing in the pub with ­Peter Stringfellow. There were pictures and everything - it was a nuts thing to do."

McGiffin also admitted that she experimented with cocaine and spoke openly about her relationship with a married man.

"It was like I was a teenager again, I was a sex maniac," she said. "It was not a good idea. I'd never do it again, I can say that for sure. But I still stand by what I thought then - that if you're ­having an affair with a married man, you are not the ­married one. He was the married one and at the time I didn't care - I thought, 'He's the one with the problem, not me'."

Speaking about her recovery and impending marriage to 28-year-old Mark Cassidy, she added: "It's like we've been ­living ­together ­forever. I love having him around and we hardly ever argue - we've had about three fights in two years."