LOS ANGELES: Friends star Matt LeBlanc says there was a time he desperately wanted to stay far away from the spotlight and came close to a breakdown.

The 48-year-old actor said it was a “dark time” and he “barely left the house,” reported E! online.

“I was burnt out. I wanted to not have a schedule, not be somewhere. I was in a position to do that. My agent was bummed. Most actors call their agents and say, ‘What’s going on?’ I’d call mine and say, ‘Please lose my number for a few years.’ It was a very dark time. I almost had a nervous breakdown,” LeBlanc said.

The actor escape to his California cattle ranch following the end of his sitcom spin-off, Joey, in 2006, cutting his hair into a mohawk to avoid the limelight.

Amid personal and professional difficulties, the only things that kept the actor going was his daughter, Marina.

“The second I laid eyes on her (when she was born), I was in love, and I had never felt that way before. I couldn’t believe it. I knew from that moment there was nothing that would ever stop me from loving her — even if she crashed my Ferrari,” he said.

However, things took an ugly turn when the little girl was diagnosed with cortical dysplasia, a condition that can affect the brain, bones and motor skills.

“My daughter was diagnosed with a problem with her head. It was a very dark period. But I got through it. Don’t they say what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger?”

Marina, now 11 years old has outgrown her medical condition.