Connery's ex-wife's lsd claim

The Daily Record

Sir Sean Connery took mind-bending LSD to help cope with the fame James Bond brought him, his ex-wife has claimed.

Diane Cilento said the actor took the drug after consulting a Scottish psychiatrist because he felt insecure and stressed.

Connery was prescribed the drug after appearing in Goldfinger in 1964.

Cilento makes the startling revelation in her autobiography, My Nine Lives, published in Australia at the weekend.

In it, she says: "The more successful Bond became, the more insecure Sean felt.

"He was convinced that he would never feel safe until he had £1million in the bank."

Cilento, 72, said Connery took the drug after she introduced him to controversial psychiatrist RD Laing.

She said: "On the first encounter, Laing gave Sean a tab of pure LSD, taking about a tenth of that amount himself.

"It was his standard procedure with patients he felt were emotionally blocked." Cilento said the drug made Connery ill and he spent the next few days in bed.

The book says Laing encouraged Connery's unease with his homeland, referring to the "boredom" Scotland instilled.

She said: "Sean also started to think a great deal about why so many Scots leave their native land."

Connery, 75, was not available for comment.