Connery ex-wife alleges LSD use, violence

LONDON, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Scottish actor Sean Connery once experimented with LSD during a therapy session and later committed spousal abuse, the James Bond star's ex-wife alleges.

Australian-born actress Diane Cilento has alleged that when Connery was a 34-year-old, he engaged in a therapy session with noted therapist RD Laing in which the pair took doses of the psychedelic drug to help the therapeutic process, The Daily Mail said Friday.

Yet Cilento said the actor was allegedly able to resist the effects of the drug, which was legal at the time in Britain.

"I believe with his enormous reserves and physical armoring, Sean resisted the drug," Cilento said.

But the actress said following the therapy session, Connery's personality became darker and he later hit her twice during an apparent instance of jealously.

Connery, whose autobiography "Being a Scot" is due out this month, has repeatedly denied the abuse allegation but did defend such actions in a 1993 interview, the Mail said.

"There are women who take it to the wire," the actor said. "That's what they are looking for, the ultimate confrontation. They want a smack."