Joe Pantoliano's mental health crisis nearly destroyed his marriage
The 73-year-old actor - who played Ralph 'Ralphie' Cifaretto in the hit mobster drama - has confessed he was "a mess for a long time" and he made matters worse by self-medicating with alcohol which left his marriage to Nancy Sheppard on the brink of collapse.
He told New York Post column PageSix: "[I used] alcohol, what was available, women, you know, risky behaviour, act first and then ask questions second ...
"[I was] a mess for a long time ... My wife and my kids were ready to throw me out. The only people who were happy to see me weren't people. They were my dogs."
Joe went on to insist he believes his pets helped save him. He explained: '[The dogs] saved my life because it was the only spark that was left in me. I was like Tinkerbell and the light was dying."
The actor was eventually diagnosed with clinical depression in 2007 and managed to get his life back on track. He has since written two books on mental health and founded a charity called No Kidding, Me Too! to help eliminate the stigma surrounding such issues,
Joe recently declared he's been feeling "really uncomfortable" at home in the US since President Donald Trump took office for a second term last year.
He had previously revealed he's no fan of the reality TV star-turned-politician and accused him of glorifying the mobster characters in The Sopranos to justify bad behaviour,
Joe told The Independent newspaper: "What always upset me was that the majority of the audience didn't get the genius of [The Sopranos creator] David Chase, and what David Chase was saying about these monsters.
"[Mobster character] Tony Soprano becomes a hero, when he's a broken-down gangster and a murderer. Scumbags like Trump and Roger Stone, all these white-collar criminals, continue to be quoted as using The Godfather and The Sopranos as a blueprint for being douchebags! I mean, how f***** up is that?"
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