Matt LeBlanc thinks his marriage was "doomed".

The 43-year-old actor - who split from spouse Melissa McKnight in 2006, almost three years after they wed - believes the stress of working on his flop sit-com 'Joey' and caring for their sick daughter Marina, now six, meant their union was never going to have a happy ending.

He admitted: "The stress of the show not working took its toll on me, it took its toll on my marriage.

"My marriage was maybe doomed anyway, I don't know. My daughter was diagnosed with a problem with her head and we had a nanny who sold the story about her to the papers. It was a very dark period.

"But I got through it. Don't they say what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger?"

Matt - who remains on good terms with Melissa - shares equal custody of Marina and decided to take a five-year gap out of public life following the end of 'Joey' so he could spend more time with his daughter.

He explained to Seven magazine: "I was so burnt out after Joey, I just didn't want to work. I wanted to not have a schedule, not be somewhere. And I was in a position where I could do that.

"I wanted to spend time with my daughter. She is the most important thing in my life, and spending time with her as the best thing I have ever done."