Housewives' Hatcher admits she was desperate

Desperate Housewives star Teri Hatcher felt she had hit rock-bottom before landing the role of man-hungry divorcee Susan Mayer.

The Golden Globe winner said she felt she had failed at everything before achieving success on the cult show now being screened on RTE2.

She had just had a baby, split with her husband of nine years, and lost her job when Superman spin-off Lois & Clark was cancelled.

“I failed at my marriage. I don’t have a career. I might lose my house. I don’t have a man,” she told US network ABC News.

“That sort of harshness of judgment of myself – how will I ever move beyond this? That really desperate feeling when you feel like you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

But the twice-divorced actress bounced back, has begun dating again and is not so unlike her alter-ego, single mother Mayer.

Hatcher, aged 40, said that from an early age she wanted to get married and have the perfect family.

She described her younger self as “an instant boyfriend person” who would immediately start wondering how her name would sound if she married her current date.

She revealed she was longing for romance, someone to buy her flowers and accept her for who she is.

“I don’t have a Valentine,” she told People magazine. “It’s going to have to be somebody I can really believe wants me and accepts me.

“I’m not looking for someone to support me and I’m not looking for someone to give me a baby.”

Hatcher said she does not have the energy to put up with anything that could cause trouble.

“The second a red flag comes up I’m probably going to go, nope, I don’t have time to go wrong with somebody,” she said.