Damian Lewis has insisted his music is not an "act of therapy" to process the death of his wife.

The 55-year-old actor released his debut LP, Mission Creep, in 2023, just two years after Helen McCrory lost her battle with cancer, and while he noted the record is "infused" with his state of mind at the time, it wasn't a deliberate choice to work through his feelings in song.

He told The Times magazine: "I started [writing songs on the album] before Helen died.

"But if you accept that an album is like a journal, even if you're Bruce Springsteen and you're writing about New Jersey, it's going to be infused with where you are at the time. So yes, there are songs that are unquestionably about Helen, or loss, but it's not an act of therapy."

While Damian noted Helen - the mother of his children Manon, 19, and 18-year-old Gulliver - was supportive of his new career direction, her illness meant they didn't have a lot of time to "chat" about it.

He said: "She was a great actress with an artist's soul and way of thinking, and she was curious. And she loved Bob Dylan more than anyone."

Asked if she was encouraging of his new direction, he added: "She was, but in all honesty she was ill by then and we were dealing with bigger things. There wasn't a lot of chat about it."

During the recording of Mission Creep, the Billions star thought it was an energised and uplifting album, but listening back later he realised just how much his grief had had an influence.

He said: "It must have been because of my state of mind, because I was fragile.

"Now I realise what a tender record it is. It's the same as making a movie: your own moods and personality infuse it, so it ends up as something you didn't necessarily intend. Occasionally I play back my first album and think, 'I really like that. I wonder who did it?' "

Damian - who is now dating The Kills frontwoman Alison Mosshart - believes love can be "hostile" and not always a "wonderful" experience.

Asked if his song No Man's Land is about a previous stalker, he said: "Actually it's not about her, but it is my most paranoid song: love as an act of aggression. Love should always be wonderful, but there are periods in life when it is not. People reading this might think, 'What a weirdo,' but love can feel oddly hostile. It's to do with one's state of mind."