British actress Helen Mirren says she used to love snorting cocaine, and took the drug up until her late 30s.[Agencies]

British actress Helen Mirren says she used to love snorting cocaine.

The star of The Queen told British men's magazine GQ she took the drug until her late 30s and only stopped after reading about Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie.

"I loved coke," Mirren said. "I never did a lot, just a little bit at parties."

Mirren said she stopped using the class A drug after reading about the capture of Barbie in Bolivia in 1983.

Barbie was believed to have been making money from the drug.

"I read that in the paper, and all the cards fell into place and I saw how my little sniff of cocaine at a party had an absolute direct route to this ... horrible man in South America."