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Jeremy Kyle has revealed he suffered from debilitating anxiety that left him unable to leave his house for four months as he opened up further about his mental health problems.
The broadcaster, 58, previously said he sought professional help after the cancellation of his controversial talk show in 2019 following the death of contestant Steve Dymond by suicide.
On Wednesday’s TalkTV show Talk Today, Kyle, who recently announced he was expecting his sixth child, elaborated more on his mental health issues as he urged viewers suffering to speak out.
During a conversation with Peter Andre, who is campaigning to break the stigma around men’s mental health, Kyle said: ‘We’ve talked privately, and personally, I had a stage for four months where I couldn’t leave the house, couldn’t get out of bed and was made to go to a doctor and it opens up the whole thing.
‘I think people worry it would make you look weak or in the business you would probably be assumed to be whatever – my concern is and it’s not a very popular concern but I just want to make the point to you is absolutely people should talk.
‘I worry that we’ll get to a point where people will use it in some instances.’
Jeremy Kyle said he was unable to leave the house for months at a time (Picture: TalkTV)
Peter wants to break the taboo around men’s mental health (Picture: Getty)
Peter, who said he struggled with mental health in the 90s when he became a popstar with the track Mysterious Girl, reiterated the importance of asking for help.
He said: ‘The point is that you’re not broken. It’s just something that’s going on. We talk so much about guys, especially saying, “If you see anything – a little lump or anything, go and get it checked up.”
‘They say that about a physical state but they never talk about if you’re not feeling right mentally.’
The Jeremy Kyle Show was cancelled after Dymond’s death by suicide(Picture: PA)
Suicide is the biggest cause of death in men under the age of 50 and around 75% of deaths from suicides each year are men according to the Office for National Statistics.
Charity The Samaritans answer a call for help every 10 seconds, and tragically, around every 90 minutes, someone dies from suicide in the UK alone.
Speaking previously about his mental health in 2021, Kyle said he was ‘completely devastated’ after the cancellation of The Jeremy Kyle Show.
Kyle said he was ‘devastated’ after the show’s axe (Picture: ITV)
He told The Sun: ‘I used to think “get a grip” when some celebrities talked about those sort of problems.
‘But suddenly I realised first-hand you can’t always do that. I never thought they would affect me like they did.
‘That was a shock — but I’ve always said, “If you have a problem, admit it, and then seek the proper help”. So that’s what I did.’
Kyle said he sought professional help after suffering from anxiety (Picture: Instagram)
Jeremy said he felt ‘scapegoated’ and ‘hunted’ after the show was pulled following the death of a contestant, as he was the ‘face’ of the production.
While he says many friends and colleagues distanced themselves from him after the fallout, he names Piers Morgan, Kate Garraway, Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford, Rob Rinder and Dec Donnelly as those who stood by him and reached out.
He added: ‘I stand by something I wrote in my book — “if you put yourself out there and it goes wrong, you have to face up to that”. I took the big salary money and all the perks. If I had wanted to swap it for a conventional nine-to-five job, I could have done.
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‘So I get that people wanted to have a go at me. But it did start to feel like a massive pile-on and one I’ve never really been allowed to have my say on.’
Kyle joined TalkTV last October after spending the summer covering for Piers Morgan on the network.
Talk Today airs Monday to Friday from 6am to 9.30am on Freeview 237, Sky 522 and Virgin Media 606.
Need support for your mental health?
You can contact mental health charity Mind on 0300 123 3393 or text them on 86463.
Mind can also be reached by email at [email protected].
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Kyle struggled after the cancellation of his ITV show.