TV fave Rylan Clark has opened up about the devastating physical effects of his breakdown, revealing for the first time that it was so severe he lost his ability to speak and even his ability to see
The much-loved This Morning presenter is now making a comeback on our screens, but many fans were unaware of just how deeply his mental health issues had impacted him physically, with Rylan comparing the experience to suffering a “bad stroke”.
The former X Factor contestant shared in an interview: “I lost my speech. I lost my vision for a little bit… It was like having a really bad stroke. It was just so bizarre.”
READ MORE: Rylan Clark ‘traumatised’ by X Factor as he gets last laugh taking over television
Rylan’s mental health crashed following the end of his marriage to Dan Neal in 2021, which came nearly ten years after he placed fifth on The X Factor. Since then, he hadn’t taken a break until his marriage fell apart, leading to a suicide attempt and a stint in a psychiatric hospital, reports the Mirror.
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Now 34, the star who also graced our screens on Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother, confessed to Jamie Laing that getting back to normal took a considerable amount of time.
He reflected: “It took me months to go back to work,” adding, “I think I was off for like four or five months. And I rarely would have four hours off, let alone f***ing four months.”
But for Rylan, this period was crucial to “start again” and “reset” his life.
“I see it as like a self-destruct button, something in my mind was going to f*** up your seemingly perfect life. F*** it up, press this button and blow it all up,” he says, speaking on the Great Company with Jamie Laing podcast released today. [Wednesday] “And what then unfolded was months of me thinking, why would I do that? Why would anyone want to blow up their perfect life? “.
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The This Morning presenter admitted that upon reflection, his life wasn’t as flawless as it seemed and acknowledged that things had been amiss for quite some time, signalling it was time for a change.
“Something in the back of my mind must have just always been underlying,” he continues. “And it just got bigger and bigger and bigger, went press the f***ing button. And I just slammed it without even hesitating because it was in my own head.”
He began to make incremental changes, initially with the support of his mother Linda, who also joins him on Celebrity Gogglebox, which eventually led to more significant shifts in his lifestyle.
“I was living with my mum at the time because I didn’t want to be in my own house. I didn’t want to do nothing. I couldn’t be trusted to be perfectly honest,” he confessed.
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“I remember my mum, you know, she’s 70 odd years old, and all she wants is her son to get better. And she’d say, ‘you make me a tea’, and I physically couldn’t, I couldn’t, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t do this.
“And remember, one day, I walked to the kettle and pressed the button, walked away, forgot about it. Then the next day, I pressed the button, watched it boil then I ran away. The next day, it’d be, press the button, watch it boil, put the teabag in the cup, and so on, and so on and so on until I got to that point where I could make a cup of tea and walk it over to my mum.”
He continues to apply this approach to his daily life when facing adversities.
“Even now, when I think I can’t do this or I’m too busy or I need this or there’s no way I could do that job. Or I can’t sing that song or I can’t do it,” he admits.
(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
“When I sit there and go, well, you couldn’t make a fucking cup of tea. And now you could be a f***ing barista if you want.”
Moreover, Rylan had significant assistance from pals such as his X Factor “brother”, James Arthur. “I shared a bed with James for like six weeks if you remember,” he cheekily adds.
“We were like bromance central. I love that man. You know, he’s like a brother to me.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
