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Natalie Imbruglia has revealed she was forced to live in a friend's basement when she ran out of money after struggling to find work following her rise to fame in Neighbours.

The singer, 51, first launched her career with a role in the iconic Australian soap back in 1992, but left the show just two years later.

Natalie has now revealed that she struggled to find more acting work after learning that UK bosses were reluctant to cast stars who had been in the soap.

The star confessed that at its worst, she lashed out at her father when he asked when she was going to 'get a job.'

Speaking on Davina McCall's Big Again podcast, Natalie shared that when she first left Neighbours she tried to launch her music career by 'making demos,' but was unsuccessful.

She said: 'So I then went to England and that's when I couldn't get a visa to work as an actress and they were really cracking down on the Neighbours stars taking English actors roles and that was a hard time because I ran out of money.

Natalie Imbruglia has revealed she was forced to live in a friend's basement when she ran out of money after struggling to find work following her rise to fame in Neighbours

'So I was, for a few years, very famous from Neighbours and was doing appearances and going appearing in clubs and signing autographs and just getting wads of cash in envelopes and living like that.

'And that was the first time in my life where everything didn't fall in my lap. So I just partied because I didn't know what to do.

'The money ran out. And it was my dad once [who] rang and said, 'Can I just ask, when are you going to get a job?' And I was so proud.

'And I screamed at him and kicked off, but I was so embarrassed that he said that to me that I changed things then.

'I was living in a basement at someone's house in Chelsea, which was weird because I had no money and I'm in Chelsea, in this big mansion, but I'm just in the basement.

'And, a lot of conversations with God about if I ever get lucky again.'

Natalie did go on to make a brief return to Neighbours for its last-ever episode in 2022, appearing in a montage alongside Holly Valance's character Felicity Scully.

It comes after Natalie shared she's been diagnosed with ADHD and OCD as she recalled going to 'very dark places'.

The singer first launched her career with a role in the iconic Australian soap back in 1992, but left the show just two years later

The singer - best known for her smash hit Torn - also opened up about how perimenopause made her 'really angry' while discussing her mental health struggles.

She explained how she was diagnosed with both OCD and ADHD in midlife but doesn't see it as a negative.

Natalie is set to release her sixth album titled Algorithm in September and has several festival appearances this summer - but she says her neurodiversity makes her very nervous before shows.

She said of her various mental health struggles: 'You name it, there's a sprinkle of it. They're just labels. It's not a negative, it's my superpower.

'But there's a particular thing about my neurodiversity that's hard for me to accept, which is how I get when I'm nervous before a show. Perimenopause made it worse.'

Natalie added to The Sunday Times of her perimenopause struggles: 'Let's just say it was a grieving process. I was really angry. I fell off a cliff. It felt like someone had taken some of my personality.'

She went on to explain that she talked to menopause campaigner Davina McCall about her experiences which helped a lot as she battled 'anger and anxiety'.

Natalie ended up managing her symptoms with HRT creams and said she was glad it is becoming less of a 'shameful or taboo' subject now.

Perimenopause is the transition to menopause when hormone levels decline and symptoms like hot flashes and irregular periods start.