Professor Green has spoken out about starting a family and said he fears ‘passing on’ his depression to his children.
The rapper, real name Stephen Manderson, has been vocal about his struggle with depression in the past, fronting a documentary on male suicide earlier this year for BBC3.
He said he was worried about passing on his depression to any future children, noting that his father, who took his own life seven years ago, suffered from depression.
“I think there’s a genetic link with depression and suicide,’ he told the Daily Mail.
“My dad did it and his brother did it. I felt it was right to take precautions by going to therapy and trying to fix myself, because - being happily married - children are the next logical step.
“But I can’t escape the fact that I am a product of my dad and I don’t want to pass this on.”
Manderson is married to Millie Mackintosh, the Quality Street heiress who made a name for herself on E4’s Made In Chelsea.
He is fronting a new documentary for the BBC called Professor Green: Suicide and Me, which sees him take an “intensely personal journey” to look into the suicide of his father and why suicide is accountable for almost 5,000 male deaths a year.
Speaking about his father, Manderson said, “He was depressed and was on his way to mental health charity Mind when, if you like, he turned right instead of left.”
Professor Green: Suicide And Me is on BBC3 on October 27 at 9pm.
