Billie 'won't take a penny' from ex-husband Evans

Billie Piper says she will not be taking any cash from her multimillionaire ex-husband Chris Evans.

The Doctor Who star, who was just 18 when she married Evans, then 34, in Las Vegas five years ago, hit out at people who gain money in divorce settlements, saying: “I’m not taking a penny from him. I think that’s disgusting.”

The pair split three years after their wedding but have remained friends.

Piper, 23, tells the Radio Times magazine that she felt suicidal when she was a teenage pop star.

She says: “My eyes were vague and dead, and my mouth was smiling without feeling, in a false pose I’d become accustomed to”.

She adds: “I can’t remember much – is that good or bad? I had a very dark moment at 16 when I didn’t want to be here anymore, but I did nothing about it, thank God.”

The actress, who is about to quit her role as the Doctor’s assistant Rose in the hit BBC One series, says she was “stroppy” and “drinking too much” as a teenage pop star.

She says she was left with little cash despite her Number One hits, telling the Radio Times: “I was a little girl from Swindon, but managers and others work you to death, and you become exhausted and bitter.

“I was young, green and taken advantage of. There was a massive financial rip-off and, although I was working twice as hard as I am now, I was left with hardly any money.”

She admits trying drugs, saying: “I tried all those things, but it never became a problem. I was so green and that’s what saved me – otherwise I may have got into it more because everyone else was and it seemed like fun.

“I had my head in the clouds, was mad, neurotic and self-destructive, a very different character to the one you see today.

“I was saved mostly by my parents, friends and boyfriends, but it could have gone either way.”

Piper admitted making the decision to quit Doctor Who a year ago, hinting that she misses being at home to cook dinner for her boyfriend, law student Amadu Sowe, 28.

She says: “The longer I stayed the more scared I’d be of leaving because it’s so comfortable and nice. I’m utterly grateful for the whole experience, but you have to take care of yourself and do what you feel is right.

“We filmed in Wales for nine months and I didn’t like being away from home. I enjoy being domesticated, washing-up and cooking dinner for my boyfriend.

“I’d love to have kids, but don’t know how people manage with a job like this. It’s the one thing you really can’t afford to f*** up. So many people have kids willy-nilly.”

Piper says she regretted not telling her parents that she had married Evans before they heard the news on Virgin Radio.

“I regret it in retrospect and we didn’t speak for a while, although they understand now that at the time I had to be selfish.

“I didn’t want them to question it because in my head it was perfect, the first time in years I felt happy. It was simple and sweet.

“Chris and I found each other when it could have gone badly for both of us, and we saved each other from our worlds of madness.”

The star, who enjoyed a two-year honeymoon with Evans, says she now wants to go backpacking to India and Africa.