'The worst thing about Patrick was the drinking': Swayze's widow talks about lowest point of their 34-year marriage

Patrick Swayze's widow Lisa Niemi has lifted the lid on their marriage and revealed how she walked out on him because of his alcoholism.

She says the star of Dirty Dancing and Point Break, who died last September of pancreatic cancer aged 57, totally changed changed character when he hit the bottle.

'For me the worst thing about him was the drinking,' she tells

'He had a different personality when he drank that much. He was the nicest man on the planet unless he'd had a drink.'

Niemi, 53, who was married to Swayze for 34 years, said: 'People or animals could have got hurt when he was like that. It's not good to be around anyone like that.'

She says she became so concerned she left him, escaping their home in the middle of the night.

When asked why it wasn't when he was awake, she laughs: 'Because he'd shoot the tyres off the car. I didn't want to take any chances.'

His alcoholism reached its lowest point in 2006 when Swayze was appearing in Guys and Dolls in the West End

Swayze went into rehab and even saw a psychic for help but it was only when Niemi had moved out that he finally gave up drinking.

Niemi, who co-wrote with Swayze The Time Of My Life, says throughout his brave battle against his illness she saw 'the best of who he was'.

'We told each other we loved each other over and over again,' she says.

'I never left the room without telling him. It still didn't feel like enough.'

Niemi tells The Times that their one big regret was never having children She also reveals how her husband was always faithful, adding: 'He was quite a prude. I never saw him as sexy.

'I remember soon after we married I looked at him and was surprised how good-looking he was.'

Despite him not wanting to be seen as a sex symbol he did, she says, spend much longer than her preparing to go out.