Former Coronation Street actor Chris Fountain appeared on ITV's This Morning today 11 October to discuss the details of a terrifying mini-stroke he suffered earlier this year which left him "speaking like a toddler".

Talking to hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, Chris, 35, described the moment of the harrowing ordeal as he said: "Something wasn't quite right. The weirdest thing was my inside voice was perfect. But I was looking at a towel and I couldn't say the word for it."

He continued: "I picked up a book and tried to read the back of it but it wasn't working. I called the ambulance but struggled to give my address."

Chris added: "I was embarrassed and in panic and scared because I couldn't articulate myself, it was really strange. As soon as the doctor said 'stroke' my brain was just swamped so I didn't even take it in. It was like someone pulled the rug from underneath me."

Holly interjected: "You've been doing lots of therapy with your speech and you've got about 90 per cent of it back, so you're doing really well."

Phillip agreed: "You wouldn't know".

Chris added: "Those first few days out of hospital, I was stumbling over my words and it became really frustrating as I knew what I was trying to say."

The star previously shared he will have to undergo heart surgery following the mini stroke which left him struggling with his speech.

The actor who played characters on Emmerdale and Hollyoaks, worried that "life as he knew it was over" after doctors discovered a blood clot lodged in his brain had caused a Transient Ischaemic Attack (TIA) – known as a mini stroke.

While doctors resolved the clot, further tests showed the actor has a hole in his heart which is what caused the blood clot to travel to his brain and trigger the incident.

He told Holly and Phil: "Apparently it's quite common but the clot got through the hole and went to the left side of my brain which is speech and memory. That's why I couldn't speak properly."

He added: "As traumatising as it's been, it could have been so much worse. I could have lost the use of my arm or my face could have dropped."

It comes after Chris previously talked openly about his depression battle after he was axed from Coronation Street in 2013, following a video emerging online of him rapping about women.

In 2013, an ITV spokesman said the actor's contract had been terminated "as a result of the unacceptable comments he made in a number of online clips”.

When Chris appeared on his former Corrie co-star Ryan Thomas and his brothers’ podcast, Mancs on the Mic, he spoke about the experience, the effect it’s had on his mental health and career, and how at the time he'd had an appearance on This Morning cancelled in the wake of the scandal.

Admitting his mental health struggles, Chris said: “I've been in some very dark, horrible places, to the point where I realised I needed to start changing the way that I was thinking – otherwise I might not have been here.

“My life, my job, my image, my reputation – everything was just ripped away. Within 24 hours. I didn't leave my house for four days.”

He continued: “I'd never been this discombobulated before. I was meant to go on This Morning and then that got cancelled because they didn't want me on there. After a while, I was like, ‘I think I'm going through depression here.’”

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