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Wednesday January 30, 2008

Scots actor Gerard Butler says his moving new movie ‘P.S. I Love You’ made him quit smoking.

The ’300′ hardman plays an Irishman who succumbs to cancer and leaves his widow, played by Hilary Swank, moving letters to help her get through her grief.

Butler insists filming the flick “lessened my fear of death” – and also opened up his eyes about how smoking was risking his life unnecessarily. “I was smoking a huge amount and having real bad premonitions and then I got this role where the guy dies of cancer,” Butler said.

“The film made me contemplate death and realize I was playing Russian roulette with my health. I’ve since stopped smoking.”

Butler had previous had to quit booze – a process he say was “painful and insane”.

But until P.S. I Love You he feared he may never be able to quit cigarettes.

Now he is free of both vices, and insists: “I think this s it. I haven’t drunk for almost 10 years and it’s been seven or eight months since I smoked.”

Despite the depressing theme of the movie, Butler says it was “full of hope”.

“No matter what you have to go through and what you suffer, hen you have true love, you can put up with anything.”