Gerard Butler "used aids to get up" before an interview with a law firm.

The 'P.S. I Love You' star - who studied at Glasgow's School of Law before becoming an actor - has hinted he used drugs before the meeting at a legal company, and is still amazed he was offered the job.

He said: "I was really out of it when I did the interview. I had done an exam the day before, and we were all a bit of a mess that night. I had to get up the next morning and travel to Edinburgh. I missed the interview, but The Firm said, 'No, no, we'll wait for you.' So I get on a train and - how should I put this? - I used a few aids to get up, and by the time I arrived, you couldn't shut me up. I ended up having a great interview and getting the job."

Despite winning the position, Gerard was unhappy in the role and was eventually fired.

However, he credits the loss of the job as the catalyst for him becoming an actor.

Gerard, 39, explained in an interview with America's Esquire magazine: "I became quite infamous in Scottish legal circles. It's very difficult to be fired as a trainee lawyer, but they actually fired me one week before I was due to qualify. I should have seen it coming. The Edinburgh Festival was going. I went to see a production of 'Trainspotting'. It was such an incredible atmosphere, and I'm dying inside. This is the life I wanted to live, I was thinking, 'I can do this. I know I can do this. I'm 25. I missed that opportunity.' A week later, they fire me."