The disgraced former soap actor Chris Fountain has spoken for the first time since his sacking from ‘Coronation Street’ in 2013 following his unmasking as the person behind a shocking video in which he rapped about rape and extreme violence.

The 28 year old actor, who played Tommy Duckworth on the ITV soap for two years, appeared on ‘This Morning’ on Wednesday (August 10th) to speak candidly about how his career had been destroyed, and that the experience had left him “depressed and ashamed” as he tried to rescue his career.

Chris FountainChris Fountain, formerly of 'Coronation Street', in April 2016

Due to star in the new stage version of ‘The Full Monty’, he told co-hosts Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes that he had not worked for three years since his dismissal from ‘Coronation Street’ in the aftermath of the video, in which he was in disguise as an alter-ego ‘The Phantom’.

“[The effect on my career has been] massive, I have constantly worked since I was 15, started on ‘Hollyoaks’, then ‘Dancing On Ice’, ‘Coronation Street’…”

“Then this happened, it put my family through hell, my mum and my grandma, my dad, my girlfriend and I let a lot of people down including myself. I didn't leave the house for a long time, I was really depressed and really ashamed and rightly so.”

“It was tough, I never kind of stopped working this was all I've ever done, I was always an actor that's all I know. So to have that taken away by something that I've brought on myself was an absolute killer.”

Holmes asked him what he had been doing since the incident three years ago, to which Fountain replied that he’s “tried to keep myself busy, get in the gym”, while his ‘Full Monty’ co-star Gary Lucy – who was also on ‘This Morning’ and knows Fountain from when they were on ‘Hollyoaks’ – said that he had encouraged him to pick himself up and accept the role.

More: ‘Coronation Street’s Chris Fountain unmasked as rap alter-ego The Phantom after sick video