Roman Kemp says secret depression battle felt like 'brain was beating him up'

Radio presenter Roman Kemp has opened up about his long-term battle with depression.

And the 28-year-old Capital One host says having the mental illness is like ­“going 12 rounds in my brain with Mike Tyson”.

“I used to tell my mum it was like my brain is beating me up,” says Roman.

“I felt like I couldn’t sleep, I wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about this thing or this thing, and when something stops ­being bad my brain would hit me with ­another jab.

“I compared it to going 12 rounds in my brain with Mike Tyson, and nobody has ever taught me how to fight it.”

Roman Kemp has opened up about his battle with depression (Image: PA)

The star, who is the son of singers Martin and Shirlie Kemp, has taken antidepressants since he was 15.

Now Roman has opened up about his struggles for a new documentary on the male mental health crisis. In it, he has a frank conversation with his parents about the suicidal thoughts he has experienced.

Roman also says people have questioned whether he can really have mental health issues due to his comfortable upbringing.

Roman revealed he has been antidepressant medication since he was 15 (Image: Roman Kemp/Instagram)

He says: “As a presenter and a host you’re expected to be constantly happy.

“I saw it on Twitter when the documentary was ­announced, people were ­saying, ‘why would he know anything about depression, he has a great family background and a great job’. But that’s the ­horrible thing about these conditions, they don’t discriminate.

“I’ve taken antidepressants since I was 15. As I’ve got older I’ve had therapy and that has been a little bit of my coping mechanism.

“Struggling has been a massive thing for me, but it gave me so much comfort when I spoke to all the different people opening up about themselves in the documentary.”

Roman, who came third in 2019’s I’m A Celebrity, was inspired to talk publicly about his mental health battle after his best friend suddenly passed away.

Radio producer Joe Lyons, who Roman has described as his “brother”, died in August last year and the star says filming the documentary helped him come to terms with his loss.

Roman is very close to his famous dad Martin (Image: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images for Sony)

Roman says: “Losing Joe absolutely ­destroyed my world. It was the biggest shock ever, and the weeks after it were such a blur. For a long time, I felt a lot of anger.

“Selfishly, making this documentary has been a form of therapy for me. People watching will see me regain the love I have for my friend. I had to do it for him.

“One in four guys go through the same thing as me, and for my own sake and my best friend’s sake I couldn’t keep my ­mental health problems quiet and push that aside for fear of what it would do to my career.”

Suicide is the biggest killer of men ­under 45, and figures from 2019 showed the problem was at a two-decade high. Roman Kemp: Our Silent Emergency sees him take a closer look at the urgent issue of young men’s mental health, exploring why increasing numbers are taking their own lives and the reasons why so many of them never ask for help.

Roman opened up to his mum Shirlie about his struggles (Image: Mike Marsland/WireImage)

He meets men and boys, some as young as 14, who have lost friends to suicide.

The broadcaster also speaks to Fergus, a young man who tried to take his own life four years ago aged 20.

Roman believes children should be taught how to open up about their mental health difficulties from a young age.

He adds: “Only 50% of schools in the UK offer counselling. We aren’t giving kids the lessons so when they go into the fight they know what to do.

“I’m fed up of seeing suicide portrayed as a middle-aged man problem. That isn’t the case and teachers and parents need to realise it’s children that it’s affecting.

“Speaking to the mental health street triage team in Nottingham, they told me the people making the calls to them are getting younger and younger.”

The team also told Roman that while 80% of the calls they take are from ­women, men use more “final methods” in terms of what they want to do.

“The rate in what they call ‘completed suicide’ in men is very high,” says Roman. “Unfortunately, we still live in a world where men put this pressure on them to be the breadwinner in the house.

“They’re expected to have this job, be earning X amount, start a family, look a certain way – and they put this ­pressure on themselves which all builds up.

“Unfortunately, they haven’t got the tools that should have been gifted to them as kids in terms of how to properly ­process and deal with a ­situation or thoughts that they are going through.”

Friends can offer invaluable support and for Roman, Joe was the person who was always there for their friendship group when they were having problems with their mental health.

Roman says: “Joe was always there for me and I spoke to him about it all the time. We talked to charities about mental health, did things on the radio where we spoke to mental health workers.

“That’s how it became ingrained in my head that men make a conscious decision that they aren’t going to open up.

“Joe’s mum Celia speaks in the documentary. Listening to her talk about her son and how she wants to push the ­message out to other parents about how they need to let those people know
they’re loved when they’re in a state of
crisis was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do.

“I’m so in debt to her for allowing me to highlight the issue and show how much of an amazing person her boy was.”

● Roman Kemp: Our Silent Emerg-ency is showing from 6am on BBC Three and will be broadcast at 9pm on BBC One on Tuesday.

Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk