Matt Cardle has opened up about his various addictions which invariably led to him entering into rehab late last year.

He checked into The Priory Clinic on December 29th to help him overcome his addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs and recently spoke to The Sun on Sunday about the true extent of his problem.

"The doctor said to me if I'd been left to my own devices for another three or four weeks I might not be here now," the X Factor winner said.

"To be told it is life or death, I was like, 'Hold on a minute, how have I come to this? How has it got this bad?'"

He went on to describe how his addictions became worse when he split from his ex-girlfriend Sarah Robinson.

"I didn't have my wits about me to even count how many I'd taken. It was a lethal situation. Towards the end I was so out of it I was asking people around me how many pills they'd seen me eat.

"That little word in front of the drug, 'prescription', gave it an air of safety for me. But it's the total opposite - they are so highly addictive both physically and mentally."