Billie Piper admits she went through a ''massive life crisis'' following her divorce.

The 'Doctor Who' star - who split from husband Laurence Fox in 2016 - was speaking abstractly about being in her thirties and how it is a ''challenging'' time where ''you start reflecting on everything''.

Speaking about her new role, she said: ''It's about a woman who is going through a massive life crisis, which is how it feels to be in your thirties, actually ... I think they're very challenging. I think your thirties are a time when you start reflecting on everything you have or haven't achieved, and where you're going and what your mental health is like - are you in a circle of repetitive, negative behaviours? Your twenties are fun, wild and without consequence. Obviously there are dark moments in your twenties, but pretty much when you compare them to your thirties, they're a bloody walk in the park. In your thirties it's like, 'Wow, s**t is getting real.'''

And the 35-year-old actress and singer - who has Eugene, five, and Winston, nine, with her ex-husband Laurence - has learned to ''laugh at a moment's life crisis'' as she says ''it just kills you''.

Speaking on the Stagecraft with Gordon Cox podcast, she added: ''It's a good climate to talk about being a woman and what you're subjected to and how you move forward. You have to laugh at a moment's life crisis because otherwise it just kills you.''