Jason Donovan's Good Morning Britain interview turns awkward as Kate Garraway brings up his troubled past and says Rocky Horror Show 'saved him from a very very dark place'
Good Morning Britain appeared to be a little awkward on Friday, as Jason Donovan appeared on the show via video to discuss his return to the Rocky Horror Show.
The actor, 55, is reprising the role of suspender-clad Frank 'N' Furter in the 2024-2025 UK tour of Richard O'Brien's musical.
He is currently playing the role in Sydney and Melbourne for the 50th anniversary, after first stepping into the famous high heels for the UK tour back in 1998.
But things became tense during his interview with GMB, as host Kate Garraway brought up how Jason had been 'in a very dark place' during that period, and commented that the show 'saved' him.
Jason, who starred as Scott Robinson on Neighbours from 1986 - 1989, had a well-documented struggle with substance abuse in the mid 90s, including cocaine addiction.
![Good Morning Britain appeared to be a little awkward on Friday, as Jason Donovan appeared on the show via video to discuss his return to the Rocky Horror Show.](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/10/16/84713795-13404737-Good_Morning_Britain_appeared_to_be_a_little_awkward_on_Friday_a-a-51_1715356162547.jpg)
Good Morning Britain appeared to be a little awkward on Friday, as Jason Donovan appeared on the show via video to discuss his return to the Rocky Horror Show.
![The actor, 55, is reprising the role of suspender-clad Frank 'N' Furter in the 2024-2025 UK tour of Richard O'Brien's musical (pictured)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/10/16/84712631-13404737-image-m-26_1715355300172.jpg)
The actor, 55, is reprising the role of suspender-clad Frank 'N' Furter in the 2024-2025 UK tour of Richard O'Brien's musical (pictured)
![He is currently playing the role in Sydney and Melbourne for the 50th anniversary, after first stepping into the famous high heels for the UK tour back in 1998 (pictured)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/10/16/84712803-13404737-image-a-29_1715355435587.jpg)
He is currently playing the role in Sydney and Melbourne for the 50th anniversary, after first stepping into the famous high heels for the UK tour back in 1998 (pictured)
He documented his wild partying days in his book Between The Lines: My Story Uncut and admitted his drug dealer was worried by his three-gram-a-day habit.
Fortunately, he managed to kick his past addictions and re-establish himself as a successful stage and screen actor in the early 2000s.
And he didn't appear to be happy to relive the past, as Kate said: '25 years ago, when you were last on stage, the Rocky Horror show in this role, it kind of saved you from a very very dark place, where it didn't look like at the time that you'd be looking and feeling this good 25 years on, did it?'
Taken aback, Jason refuted her question and said: 'Well, I mean, you know, I don't know whether it necessarily saved me? It had a purpose in my life...'
Sensing the tension, Kate quickly interrupted him to defend herself and say: 'I'm just saying that, you've been quoted as saying that it saved you. It's not me making it up!'
A sheepish Jason replied: 'Oh am I? Oh Kate really? Oh okay, okay.'
He then added: 'Well to cut straight to the chase, I met my wife on Rocky Horror in 1998 and we’ve been together happily now for 25 years.
'I would say that the character of Frank is a sort of extravert and misfit character and he goes to dark places which I was probably going to at that point in my life.
![But things became tense during his interview with GMB , as host Kate Garraway brought up how Jason had been 'in a very dark place' during that period, and commented that the show 'saved' him](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/10/16/84713563-13404737-image-a-38_1715355808185.jpg)
But things became tense during his interview with GMB , as host Kate Garraway brought up how Jason had been 'in a very dark place' during that period, and commented that the show 'saved' him
![Jason, who starred as Scott Robinson on Neighbours from 1986 - 1989, had a well-documented struggle with substance abuse in the mid 90s, including cocaine addiction (pictured in 1998)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/10/16/84712663-13404737-Jason_who_starred_as_Scott_Robinson_on_Neighbours_from_1986_1989-m-28_1715355406990.jpg)
Jason, who starred as Scott Robinson on Neighbours from 1986 - 1989, had a well-documented struggle with substance abuse in the mid 90s, including cocaine addiction (pictured in 1998)
![Sensing the tension, Kate quickly interrupted him to defend herself and say: 'I'm just saying that, you've been quoted as saying that it saved you. It's not me making it up!'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/10/16/84713801-13404737-image-a-52_1715356193853.jpg)
Sensing the tension, Kate quickly interrupted him to defend herself and say: 'I'm just saying that, you've been quoted as saying that it saved you. It's not me making it up!'
'But, it wasn’t long after that show that a lightbulb happened in my life and things sort of started to change for the best so it seems like a natural progression for me to re-visit this wonderful show 25 years on.'
Referencing the uncomfortable atmosphere, Jason admitted: 'I don’t really like to look back at those things because there is so much to look forward to.'
He said that it was his children that had motivated him to kick his drug addiction, rather than the Rocky Horror Show.
He said: 'The catalyst for change for me was my children but you’ve got to want to change in your life and I go back to your comment that I look well and I look healthy and that’s because I have always had a relatively positive outlook on life and kept relatively fit.
'I had great friends and great family around me and I think that a support network when you’re in those moments is crucial.
'How do you process what I went through at a very young age? Success - there’s no manual for how you deal with it as a young child. In today’s world, this would be under the title of mental health.'
In subtle dig, he added: 'I think people have got to be slightly careful when they refer back to those darker days because yes they were, but I think you have to be able to understand people’s life story.'
Adding to the awkwardness, Jason then seemed to suggest he was leaving the interview early, as he went on: 'But I'll leave you with, well, I won't leave you unless you want me to leave?'
![He said that it was his children that had motivated him to kick his drug addiction, rather than the Rocky Horror Show (pictured with children Jemma and Zac in 2015)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/10/16/84713171-13404737-He_said_that_it_was_his_children_that_had_motivated_him_to_kick_-m-31_1715355563087.jpg)
He said that it was his children that had motivated him to kick his drug addiction, rather than the Rocky Horror Show (pictured with children Jemma and Zac in 2015)
![Adding to the awkwardness, Jason then seemed to suggest he was leaving the interview early, causing co-host Adil Ray to quickly shout out: 'Where are you going?' while Kate begged: 'Don't go anywhere!'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/10/16/84713229-13404737-Adding_to_the_awkwardness_Jason_then_seemed_to_suggest_he_was_le-m-33_1715355608812.jpg)
Adding to the awkwardness, Jason then seemed to suggest he was leaving the interview early, causing co-host Adil Ray to quickly shout out: 'Where are you going?' while Kate begged: 'Don't go anywhere!'
This caused co-host Adil Ray to quickly shout out: 'Where are you going?' while Kate begged: 'Don't go anywhere!'
Viewers watching at home also noted the tension and took to social media to brand the interview 'awkward' and 'shameless'.
They tweeted: 'Goodness me they're determined to get Jason Donovan to keep dragging up the past when he'd clearly like to talk about the future; No idea why gmb dragged up that story to ask Jason Donovan about...'
'Shameless @GMB. Jason Donovan on to talk about what he’s doing now, but @kategarraway and @adilray have to rake up his past. Inability to fill 10mins of interview with positives; The interview with Jason Donovan is so awkward'.
'I don’t think it was right for him to bring up to Jason Donovan about, "Oh you’ve been in some pretty dark places." As once you have beaten an addiction, it’s not a good idea to bring someone back to think about those dark times.'
Jason's escalating drug habit in the 90s saw him snorting up to 30 lines of cocaine a day and he has admitted: 'There was a long period where my best friends didn’t think I was going to make it.'
In 1995, he even suffered a seizure while high at Kate Moss' 21st birthday party, thrown by Johnny Depp at LA’s infamous Viper Room club.
But he checked himself out of hospital the same night and returned directly to the club to score more cocaine.
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/10/16/84712627-13404737-image-a-36_1715355675080.jpg)
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/10/16/84712629-13404737-image-a-34_1715355640627.jpg)
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/10/16/84712625-13404737-image-a-37_1715355680774.jpg)
![Viewers watching at home also noted the tension and took to social media to brand the interview 'awkward' and 'shameless'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/10/16/84712623-13404737-image-a-35_1715355672652.jpg)
Viewers watching at home also noted the tension and took to social media to brand the interview 'awkward' and 'shameless'
Speaking to the Daily Mail in 2016 about the reasons for his addiction, Jason said: 'My pop career was stagnating and I needed to do some growing up. But that didn’t happen.
'I decided to party. This would be no ordinary party either. It started in 1991 and didn’t end until 2000.
‘Some would say it was a late reaction to my mother walking out on me when I was a kid. I’m not convinced.
'The fact is that I liked cocaine and I was having a fun time on it, at least to start with. I had the funds. I had the access to the drugs.'
He went on: 'Cocaine made me feel confident. It made me feel very sexual. On coke I could fool myself that I was being creative. When I got warning signs, I chose to ignore them.
'I experienced a lot of dark days and nights. The comedowns from cocaine were indescribably awful.’
Jason then met stage manager Angela Malloch on the Rocky Horror Show tour in 1998, going on to tie the knot in Bali in 2008 and welcoming three children together - Jemma, Zac and Molly.
Crediting becoming a father as his motivation for getting clean, he said: 'I came to my senses in time for the birth of my daughter, Jemma. Probably the best decision I have ever made.
![Jason's escalating drug habit in the 90s saw him snorting up to 30 lines of cocaine a day and he has admitted: 'There was a long period where my best friends didn¿t think I was going to make it' (pictured in 1990s)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/10/16/84713553-13404737-image-a-39_1715355858253.jpg)
Jason's escalating drug habit in the 90s saw him snorting up to 30 lines of cocaine a day and he has admitted: 'There was a long period where my best friends didn’t think I was going to make it' (pictured in 1990s)
![Jason then met stage manager Angela Malloch on the Rocky Horror Show tour in 1998, going on to tie the knot in Bali in 2008 and welcoming three children together (pictured together)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/10/16/84713019-13404737-Jason_then_met_stage_manager_Angela_Malloch_on_the_Rocky_Horror_-a-41_1715355927952.jpg)
Jason then met stage manager Angela Malloch on the Rocky Horror Show tour in 1998, going on to tie the knot in Bali in 2008 and welcoming three children together (pictured together)
'I certainly don’t miss being off my head on coke, or the horror of lying in bed at 5.30am, totally wired, unable to sleep, feeling that I’ve ruined my life.'
In 2016, he told The Mirror that he was honest with his kids about his pasts in the hopes that they will learn from his mistakes.
He said: 'My kids are very aware of what I've done in my life, or rather what I shouldn't have done.
'You can only lead by example, I educate my children to hopefully make the right choices. If they don't I will support them along the way.
'I just hope that what they've seen through me, they can learn to take the good bits and hopefully looks back at the bad bits. No life is perfect.'
The Rocky Horror show tour will hit the road from August this year and the new West End production includes a two-week run at London's Dominion Theatre from September 6.
The musical stage show was written and created by Richard O'Brien in 1973, and then adapted for the 1975 film, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, starring Susan Sarandon and Tim Curry.
The show follows Brad and his fiancée, Janet, as they happen across a gothic looking mansion after their car breaks down.
They meet the head of the house Dr Frank 'N' Furter, a self-proclaimed "sweet transvestite from transexual Transylvania", and the couple watch on as he creates a man called Rocky in his laboratory.
Good Morning Britain weekdays from 6am on ITV1 & ITVX
![The Rocky Horror show tour will hit the road from August this year and the new West End production includes a two-week run at London's Dominion Theatre from September 6 (cast pictured)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/10/16/84712633-13404737-image-a-42_1715355937226.jpg)
The Rocky Horror show tour will hit the road from August this year and the new West End production includes a two-week run at London's Dominion Theatre from September 6 (cast pictured)
![The musical stage show was written and created by Richard O'Brien in 1973, and then adapted for the 1975 film, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, starring Susan Sarandon and Tim Curry (pictured)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/10/16/84713735-13404737-The_show_follows_Brad_and_his_fianc_e_Janet_as_they_happen_acros-a-47_1715356067300.jpg)
The musical stage show was written and created by Richard O'Brien in 1973, and then adapted for the 1975 film, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, starring Susan Sarandon and Tim Curry (pictured)
![The show follows Brad and his fiancée, Janet, as they happen across a gothic looking mansion after their car breaks down. They meet the head of the house Dr Frank 'N' Furter, a self-proclaimed "sweet transvestite from transexual Transylvania" (pictured)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/10/16/84713739-13404737-The_musical_stage_show_was_written_and_created_by_Richard_O_Brie-a-45_1715356036993.jpg)
The show follows Brad and his fiancée, Janet, as they happen across a gothic looking mansion after their car breaks down. They meet the head of the house Dr Frank 'N' Furter, a self-proclaimed "sweet transvestite from transexual Transylvania" (pictured)