American actress Delta Burke's spell in hospital is the result of a lifetime battle with anxiety and depression.

The 51-year-old star checked herself into a clinic earlier this month to battle obsessive compulsive disorder and "hoarding". Speaking for the first time since, Burke reveals she has suffered anxiety attacks since she was in kindergarten and has been depressed since she was 13.

She claims her problems escalated after doctors prescribed her a number of drugs to combat her symptoms. Burke tells Entertainment Tonight, "I was on five different kinds of medication. After a couple of years the meds stopped working. I needed an adjustment under a physician's care. I was being proactive. Now I'm on two medications."

She reveals she contemplated suicide during her darkest time, on the set of U.S. sitcom Designing Women: "It was a very desperate time. I was parked in the car in the Hills with a gun and a bottle of Xanax beside me, trying to recover from harsh words said in the tabloids. I just wanted the pain to go away. I didn't want to die. If I ever really wanted to be dead, I'd be dead."

She adds of her OCD, "At one time I had 27 storage units. I don't have a big enough house! My mom had it, it's my mother's fault! She saved the diaper I came home from the hospital in! "I want people to pursue mental help the same as they would pursue physical help, like cancer. I will be the face of depression." (IG/WNWCUO/LR)

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