BBC News at Ten presenter Huw Edwards has opened up about his 20-year battle with depression which leaves him bedridden.
In a candid interview with Men’s Health UK, Huw told how his depression includes anxiety and tends to “hit in a strong wave” and then go away.
Huw discussed the worst parts of his illness to mental health campaigner and columnist Alastair Campbell.
He said: “I’m pretty clear that I have suffered – and do suffer – from depression.”
He told Campbell, who was former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s campaign director: “It’s not anxiety, although it includes anxiety, but it tends to hit me in a strong wave and then go away.
“At least I now know when I’m going to enter a phase like that. Your mind goes into a place where you don’t want to do anything. You can’t make any decisions.”
Huw added that he ended up “dreading” things he used to enjoy, and would be forced to “push his way through” work.
“And, of course, if it’s very bad – as it has been a few times over the course of 20 years – you can’t work. During the worst one I had, I couldn’t get out of bed,” he said.
His mental heath problems got so bad at one stage he was considering quitting his role on the news programme because he found the work “taxing”.
He also told Campbell it took him some time to realise and accept that you cannot please everyone.
Huw said it took him a while to build up the “thick skin” needed to be in the public eye when “people are having a pop” – adding that though he tried to “laugh it off”, the trolling was relentless.
He added: “I wasn’t used to it. I was used to being told I was brilliant.”
(Image: Instagram/ @thehuwedwards)
The BBC star also told that his depression has left him “bedridden” since 2002 in a documentary on Welsh language broadcaster S4C last year.
But since taking up boxing in recent years Huw says his physical and mental wellbeing has been boosted, with it giving him something different to focus on.
For more of the latest showbiz and TV news from the Daily Star, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
