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Edie Falco turned to alcohol when she couldn't afford cocaine

Edie Falco opens up about her struggles with drink and drugs credit:Bang Showbiz
Edie Falco opens up about her struggles with drink and drugs credit:Bang Showbiz

Edie Falco turned to alcohol when she couldn't afford drugs.

The 58-year-old actress - who has now been sober for three decades - revealed that her poor finances led her to hit the bottle as opposed to cocaine.

She admitted: "I was a non-drinker for years, then I had my first drink at college and I found nirvana. [It was] the answer to all my problems, and the cause of all my other problems. I was a big fan of cocaine if it was around, but I could never afford any, Marijuana just gave me anxiety."

Edie, who is a Buddhist, also went on to reveal that when she was addicted to alcohol, her vice would be a deciding factor in who she would choose to date.

She added: "I’d wait to hear how quickly they’d mention alcohol, and that’s how I knew they were the next guy."

The 'Sopranos' star - who has two adopted children - later gave up drinking when she woke with a hangover to realise she had left her front door wide open, but years later struggled when was cast as a high-functioning drug addict in the title role of comedy show 'Nurse Jackie.'

She told The Guardian: "I had a hard time with the idea of a comedy about addiction. "I said to them, ‘If the last season isn’t about her going to meetings and getting help, she has to be dead at the end, so people know what it’s like."

When 'Nurse Jackie' did come to an end in 2015, whether the title character actually died or not is rather ambiguous, with Edie claiming that the team were afraid to cause upset.

She said: "I think they were just afraid of people getting upset. They wanted to leave the option open [that she survived], and I kicked and screamed. I don’t understand the decisions made by executives, but I’ve learned to make peace with them."