Wayne Sleep felt “depressed” because of his short stature and even considered taking hormone pills in a desperate attempt to grow taller.

The 5ft 2in (1.57m) ballet dancer rose through the ranks of the Royal Ballet in the 1960s after joining the Royal Ballet School as the smallest male dancer ever, but he admitted his rise to stardom was tough because he was overlooked in favor of his taller peers.

He told The Telegraph newspaper: “I was so depressed! I can tell you today that I have battled depression all my life, but now I can just forget about it because it doesn’t worry me anymore.”

He further revealed that he considered taking hormone pills to get bigger, but after a serious conversation with Ninette de Valois, the founder and director of the Royal Ballet, he gave up the idea.

Wayne added, “‘Sleep!’ she said to me. ‘What am I hearing, you want to take pills? You can’t. It’s not scientifically proven. You just have to spin twice as fast as everyone else and jump twice as high. Now go ahead!’ I didn’t disobey.”

During the interview, Wayne then talked about his most famous dance of all – his performance with the late Princess Diana at a charity event in London in 1985. The moment was recreated in the Netflix series “The Crown” and the dancer says the scene looked good, but he would have liked to have corrected details that he felt were misrepresented.

He told the newspaper: “‘The Crown’ was doing very well, I thought. But why didn’t they call me? … As soon as she appeared (in The Crown), the audience went ‘Aahhhh!’ In fact, 2,000 people held their breath.”

Wayne added of the dancer who played him on the show: “Well, I’m glad he wasn’t as good as me!”