Pete Townshend struggles with "mood swings" and suicidal thoughts but he often feels better after a "cup of tea and a digestive biscuit".

The Who star, 80, has opened up about his mental health issued and admitted he goes through extreme highs and lows, but he has found a simple solution to helping him feel better when he hits rock bottom.

He told the i newspaper: "You can't imagine what it's like to be in my shoes. I mean, it's f****** ecstasy. But I do suffer mood swings. I suffer from manic depression.

"So sometimes when I wake up, if there was a gun under my pillow, I might blow my brains out. But after a cup of tea and a digestive biscuit, I realise that I'm very, very lucky. I have an amazing life."

It comes after Pete recently admitted he would have been "happier" without The Who.

The musician - who co-founded the band in 1964 - has always felt the group were "beneath" him and he believes he'd have preferred to have followed his love of art instead.

He told The Daily Mail newspaper's Weekend magazine: "I always feel I wish I'd left before the band got famous and been an artist. I think I would have been happier ...

"I was deeply into a college course about how art was going to have a revolutionary function. So I felt The Who were a bit silly, maybe a bit beneath me, I'm afraid."

Asked how he sees things now, he said: "I feel the same. I think they feel beneath me."

Pete admitted bandmate Roger Daltrey is unimpressed by his stance. He said: "Roger and I have conversations about this. Sometimes he thinks I should be more grateful ...

"I should have left, I think. That's OK. I don't regret feeling that. It's just that there was a life I could have had that I missed."

The My Generation hitmaker never expected The Who to be around for more than a year. He said: "I expected The Who to self-destruct in six months. That's why I threw myself into performing in a bloody manner. I hurt myself on the stage. I smashed guitars I could only just afford. But my personal manifesto was absolute: 'This is a brief moment in music history. It won't turn into ... ' Well, what it turned into."