Joseph Gordon-Levitt was left “in physical pain” after a rough break-up

He said: “I hated myself. I did not hate her. I missed her. I was mad at her. I was madly in love with her. And she was madly in love with me too. No, she wasn’t anymore. She had been though.

“I was in physical pain every day. My body hurt. I’d wake up and wish I hadn’t woken up. I wanted to be unconscious. I wanted to break stuff. Or I wanted to break myself.”

Joseph says he was being a “judgemental little p***k” when the woman in question left him, and although the split hurt, it taught him to change his ways.

Writing in his new book ‘The Art of Breaking Up’, he explained: “The funny paradox is that if I hadn’t been such a judgemental little p***k, maybe she wouldn’t have left me. But if she hadn’t left me, then maybe I wouldn’t have learned to stop being such a judgemental little p***k.”

The ‘Inception’ star’s book was made with his collaborative online community of artists in HITRECORD, whom he teamed up with to pen the collection of memories, which is described as being “all about breaking up from both the perspectives of the heartbreaker and the brokenhearted”.

Speaking about the inspiration for his tome, Joseph said: “Life can be painful, especially a love life. I know this from personal experience. Luckily, I’m very happy in my marriage right now, but I certainly remember a time when love and romance was a very emotionally turbulent part of my life. Really, a big way that I would cope was write a story, or sing something, or shoot a video. Creativity is such a healing thing, especially when you’re not being creative alone.”

‘The Art of Breaking Up’ was released on Tuesday (21.01.20).