Phillip Schofield opened up about his recent mental health struggles, saying his head took him to "dark and scary places".
Recent data from the Office for National Statistics shows that the suicide rate for men in England and Wales in 2019 was the highest for two decades.
Simon Gunning, CEO of charity CALM was on This Morning today to discuss the latest figures and mental health stigma.
He said: “It’s really important that we don’t think of this as being inevitable. Suicide is so complex, every suicide is so different. We mustn't start thinking it’s an inevitability, but we must take heed of the warning signs.
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"In 2008 with the big financial crash, we saw a big jump in male suicides, especially in middle aged men… and I guess we can work out why that could’ve been; the ability to fulfil the ‘masclunine’ kind of role was hampered a great deal by that crash, and now we can see what’s happening and we can understand that... as well as enforced isolation, as well as lack of access to mental health services."
Phillip then talked about his own issues, saying he will be opening up further in future This Morning episodes.
He said: "Over the next few weeks I will be talking quite a lot about my mental health and where my head has been in recent times, and it's surprising how you think you’ve got a grip on everything and suddenly your head takes you to dark and scary places.
"You say that loved ones can be instrumental on helping and there’s no question I needed a lot of help in recent times with people who sit right beside me right now [pointing to Holly] who helped me enormously.
"Steph, my wife at home, my girls [daughters], my family… and loved ones can be instrumental in helping.
"I understand and realise that not everyone is as lucky as I am, to have sympathetic ears to listen to, or people that can even understand how you can help someone just by listening but the first point surely has to be, really, is to reach out to the people that know you the best and hopefully you can find a rock that you can tie yourself to…"
Simon agreed, “Yes. If you’ve got people around you that’s fantastic, and if you haven’t then helplines and doctors are brilliant.”
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Towards the end, Phillip said, “I am not trained in any way, but all I know is that I’ve been to some fairly dark places in my head when those clouds roll in…
"If you are patient, if you hang on, if you wait, then it is extraordinary how the clouds break up and a little bit of sunshine can come through.
"Don’t rush into judging your life because you never know where it might go quite quickly."
