John Whaite says 'I feel like an ageing fool' as he struggles with diagnosis

Daily Mirror

4 days ago

Strictly Come Dancing star John Whaite took to social media with a candid update two years after revealing he had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Former Strictly Come Dancing star John Whaite has candidly opened up on his health struggles in a new social media upload. The Bake Off star, 36, took to Instagram to reveal his thoughts on how his "superpower" can sometimes "make life confusing".
John was diagnosed with ADHD in 2023 and said at the time he wished he had "known this sooner". According to the NHS, ADHD - which stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - is "a condition where the brain works differently to most people".
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The health service explains symptoms of the diagnosis can leave people having trouble with things like concentrating and sitting still. Now, in an honest video shared to his social media page, John admitted of his condition: "Sometimes it makes life almost unbearable. I was promised I'd get older and wiser, but sometimes I feel like I'm just an ageing fool."
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He said in the clip: "Oh can we just talk about the reality of life with ADHD because you know a lot of the time we think we have a superpower and sometimes it can serve us very well.
"It can serve us in so many ways where we can fixate on things and achieve things and create things and really do the best work or something imaginable but often that's such a pyrrhic victory because we bleed ourselves dry or we exhaust ourselves in doing it or we abandon plans or friends or family and the reality of ADHD is that it can make us believe that what we're doing in life sometimes is the exactly the righteous course of action for us."
He went on: "It's the right path in spite of what people who love us might say. And then when it gets to the point where we are our interest fizzles away, the reality kicks in and we see the truth and we see the situation for what it is.
"At that point we're left kind of thinking f***, I've given up so much for this. I've ignored people who love me for this. And this is really exhausting because usually the older you get the wise you get. And while that can still be true in a situation where you have ADHD I think the reality.
"As you get older you don't necessarily get wiser, you just get older and when you get older and you keep making silly little mistakes people become less tolerant of those mistakes because you're meant to be older and wiser."
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He added that despite so much positivity surrounding the "superpower", there is also a flip side that can be "crippling and so dehumanising and annoying".
John candidly confessed: "If I could chose to live life neurotypically at this point in my life, I would jump at the chance and I know that's not very pro ADHD it's not very kind of holding up the flag our community but sometimes it's just exhausting, it's horrific and sometimes I f****** hate it."
John has regularly been open about his condition since his diagnosis. He has also spoke out about his mental health battle, previously suffering from bulimia and suicidal thoughts.
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He explained at how one point he was so low he decided to quit fame and move to Canada, where he volunteered on a farm in a bid to go back to basics and help him recover.
Speaking on Steph's Packed Lunch in 2020, he said he also suffers from sexsomnia, a condition similar to night terrors and sleep walking, but instead he engages in sexual behaviour that he doesn't remember when he's awake.
"You have night terrors, I have night pleasures, because I have sexsomnia," he said. "In the night, I'll be fast asleep... My boyfriend wakes up and I'll be fondling him. He's having the time of his life and I'm fast asleep."
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He has also admitted he was left feeling "suicidal" in the past following his Bake Off win. "I kind of felt like I'd failed. And I felt suicidal. I really really did think I was going to end it," John explained.