Veteran actress Britt Ekland is convinced her former husband Peter Sellers had bipolar disorder.

The former Bond girl was married to the British funnyman for four years from 1964 but their romance was punctuated by frequent arguments and Ekland has previously recounted how his mood swings scared her.

Now she has opened up about the late actor/comedian's temper, insisting he would have been diagnosed as bipolar if he was still alive.

Ekland tells British magazine Seven, "I think today we would say he was bipolar, although that word is bandied around so often. He had mental problems and he should have been on therapy (sic). If I'd met him today I would know so much more, but I didn't. I had no experience of that sort of life but I learnt very quickly."

Sellers died of a heart attack in 1980 at the age of 54.