Latest news with #Widdicombe
The Independent
27-03-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Josh Widdicombe reveals he suffered ‘mental collapse' that led to ‘horrific' insomnia
Josh Widdicombe has revealed severe burnout led to him suffering a 'mental collapse' in 2022. The comedian, 41, who is best known for appearing on The Last Leg and hosting the Parenting Hell podcast alongside Rob Beckett, experienced 'horrific panic-attack-led insomnia' during the breakdown. Widdicombe said his inability to sleep left him 'terrified about going to sleep at night'. Yet he resisted his doctor's advice to take antidepressants because he thought it was an 'admission of failure'. Writing in The i Paper, Widdicombe said: 'Like a lot of people who think there's some sort of shame or stigma involved, I was initially very resistant to taking antidepressants. 'But I couldn't sleep and I was terrified about going to bed every night.' Widdicombe said sleepless nights meant he struggled to recover: 'I couldn't make any changes to my life, because it was like trying to change the tyre on a car that was going at 120mph,' he said. 'Taking medication just allowed me to pull over into the hard shoulder and make those changes. 'It's a shame that there's still stigma attached to it,' he added. 'It really helped me to just deal with it and make the life changes I needed to make.' Widdicombe explained his anxiety stemmed from a fear that if he ever stopped working then all his success as a comedian would vanish. The comedian underwent multiple rounds of talking therapy and began meditating in order to 'readjust that feeling' of inadequacy and reorganise his priorities. 'I'd lost sight of what the quest was,' he said. Reflecting on his management of anxiety, Widdicombe said he doesn't think you ever fully 'recover' from mental health struggles. 'You've got to be eternally vigilant with these things,' he said. 'It's like that phrase 'no one's a recovered alcoholic, they're always a recovering alcoholic' and I think it's the same with these things. 'I feel slightly like I'm a footballer that had an injury, who will always be slightly playing knowing that I'm protecting that injury even though it's not there any more.' Back in 2023, Beckett revealed Widdicombe had been 'stretched beyond belief at home and at work' after committing to too many things, leading him to 'not enjoying life and feeling stressed and fed up'. 'I was feeling incredibly anxious and depressed,' Widdicombe admitted. 'I was drinking to get to sleep when I was feeling bad, which is a very bad thing to do because it's a depressant.' Widdicombe recalled reaching a turning point with his anxiety while filming The Last Leg's Christmas special in December 2022. After filming the episode, he decided to see a GP and was then prescribed antidepressants. Despite feeling 'embarrassed' of the medicationWiddicombe told two friends he was on antidepressants, and it turns out that both of them were on the same medicines. ` According to UK Government statistics published in 2024, 8.7 million adults in the UK are on antidepressants. 'You can't just go: 'I took this pill, and I feel better,'' Widdicombe said. '[But antidepressants] give me a safety net, or a cushion that allows me to function when it gets really tough and allows me to rebuild.' If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@ or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch.
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Alex Jones slams big Hollywood One Show guest she thought was 'full of himself'
Alex Jones has revealed which The One Show guest she didn't take to one bit. The Welsh TV star, 48, first joined the BBC One magazine program in 2010 and has interviewed a number of big names in that time. Reflecting on her standout moments in a new interview, she admitted that speaking to British homegrown talent tends to appeal more to her than huge movie stars. "You know, we've had people on that are big Hollywood stars. I mean, last week we had Robert De Niro and, he was lovely, but he was lovely afterwards,' she told the Netmums Podcast. The mum-of-three then singled out Jared Leto as having been the total opposite of De Niro when she sat down with him three years ago. "He was there in sort of dressed as one of the Three Musketeers and he had all this, like, I don't know, Gucci, big shirt, sleeves billowing. I mean, he was so full of himself,' she recalled. "And I thought, no, no, no, no. Our audience are nice people and, they deserve better than this. And, okay, you might be like a huge celebrity star and, you know, you've done all these films, but there's. It doesn't cost to be polite and nice. Anybody who can't bring those simple skills to the table, I'm out. I'm like, no, sorry, you've not been brought up well, then." It's not the first time that she has made her feelings known about Leto. She previously described him as her 'worst guest' while appearing on Josh Widdicombe and Rob Beckett's Parenting Hell podcast in 2023. Asked by the hosts whether he had been "hard work", she groaned: "He was dressed in Gucci and whatever and just so dismissive. He put himself on like a different plane to everybody else. I just can't bear people like that." Widdicombe and Beckett were in hysterics after seeing a picture. "Oh my word, look what he's wearing!" [He's] dressed like a musketeer or something!" exclaimed Widdicombe. "He looks like a Shakespearean actor. Oh, he looks hard work,' agreed Beckett. Concurring, Jones said: "I don't know whether I referenced musketeer early on and then from there it was a sharp downhill. With some people, you cannot warm them up for love or money, he was one of them." The 2022 interview got off to an awkward start after Jones made a comment about Leto wearing clothing similar to her own. "Oh my goodness, look, you got the memo, the frilly shirt, I like it, yes." she said upon greeting him, but his enthusiasm failed to match her own. Things got even more uncomfortable when she admitted she thought sci-fi movie Morbius, which he was promoting at the time, might be too "scary" for her young son to watch. Attempting to move things along, she then mentioned his Apple TV+ series WeCrashed, which is based on WeWork's founder, remarking: "Now on paper, it doesn't sound the most exciting, but this guy you play is really extreme, isn't he? How would you sum him up?". Leto - who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in Dallas Buyers Club in 2014 - was not having any of it, hitting back: 'Hold on, hold on, first Morbius is too scary, and now WeCrashed is too boring?". Thinking fast, she challenged him to 'prove' her wrong, to which he replied: "I will prove you wrong. You watch them, and I guarantee one thing, you will definitely not be bored."
