Crowe's friend was Bowie's cocaine dealer

One of Russell Crowe's best friends was a cocaine dealer to David Bowie.

The 'Noah' actor claims Mickey Castellano, an on-set costumer, sold drugs to Bowie at the height of his fame in the 1970s during a new show called 'The Truth About Us', in which a well-known public figure is interviewed alongside a close friend.

Russell, 50, explained: "He said to me one day, 'You know, I did two albums with Bowie and two albums with Purple', Deep Purple."

At that point, Russell asked: "'You did two albums with Bowie and two albums with Deep Purple, what did you do, like backing vocals or something like that?' He goes, 'No, no, no, I was their coke dealer!'"

The Academy Award-winning actor initially didn't believe his close friend, but his view changed when he took Castellano to one of Bowie's concerts.

He recalled: "We're at this concert and we're backstage. And I'm like, 'Good to see you, David! Hey, can I just introduce you to a friend of mine? Apparently he knew you quite a long time ago?"

Russell was surprised by the reaction of the legendary singer, now 67.

He explained: "Bowie's face went white. Like white as a sheet, like a ghost. He's just standing there, and he goes, 'Michael!' And it's like, holy s***, what am I witnessing here?'

"Bowie is shaking, he's like, 'Michael, I don't do drugs any more!' and Michael's like, 'David, David, neither do I! You know, I'm 15 years clean!'"