{"id":556068,"date":"2026-08-02T11:38:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T11:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/556068\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T11:38:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T11:38:21","slug":"the-block-darren-palmer-on-teenage-son-adhd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/556068\/","title":{"rendered":"The Block: Darren Palmer on teenage son, ADHD"},"content":{"rendered":"

Watching Darren Palmer judge rooms on The Block, where he\u2019s never shy with both his opinions or with ripping off his shirt to showcase his hard-earned muscles, it\u2019s easy to assume he\u2019s an out-and-proud extrovert. <\/p>\n

However, the interior designer insists he\u2019s really an introvert who just knows how to put on a good show.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty common to be an introvert that does a job like mine because I\u2019m very comfortable in front of a crowd of 1000 people, but I\u2019m not comfortable inside a crowd of 1000 people,\u201d he tells Stellar. <\/p>\n

\u201cI interact with people because I enjoy working, but I also need to be alone. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo every four to six weeks, I\u2019ll go and stay somewhere on my own for a night, just to recharge my batteries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Travelling from his home in Bondi to film The Block in Victoria (which this season is located in the seaside hamlet of Mt Eliza) offers Palmer built-in windows of essential solitude. <\/p>\n

After delivering his verdicts on contestants\u2019 renovation work, he usually heads to his hotel, orders room service, and unwinds with a sci-fi film.<\/p>\n

Listen to the Stellar podcast, Something To Talk About, below: <\/p>\n

Palmer is grateful that his husband, Olivier Duvillard, understands this need for me-time, while also accepting that a hectic work schedule inevitably takes him away from home for stretches.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe finished The Block last year, and it was cold. Then I got on a plane and flew to Sicily, where it was like 40\u00b0C,\u201d Palmer says of working on his upcoming series 1 Euro House, which sees him renovating a dilapidated Italian villa with fellow Block judge Shaynna Blaze. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo I got to enjoy summer, and then I got to enjoy summer again, and then I got to come home and enjoy summer. <\/p>\n

\u201cOlivier was very excited. He\u2019s the best support system ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Growing up in the small Queensland industrial town of Gladstone, he admits, \u201cI didn\u2019t even think I\u2019d leave the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t pay attention to French at school \u2013 and I married a Frenchman, though I still don\u2019t speak French properly. I was a kid in the 1980s and early \u201990s. <\/p>\n

\u201cLife like this just didn\u2019t exist. So, the fact I\u2019ve got a tapware range and rug ranges, and art and cushions and candles, and two successful podcasts, and books, and an education platform that sold globally, and I\u2019m on the TV show everybody watches \u2026 How on earth could I have known any of that would be possible for that little country kid who was apparently neurodivergent?\u201d<\/p>\n

Palmer got tested for ADHD after a candid chat with Myf Warhurst on his Almost Home podcast last year. <\/p>\n

As the Spicks & Specks star described living with ADHD, Palmer began to see distinct parallels with his own life. The diagnosis may have surprised him, but it was no shock to his loved ones, who have long watched in wonder as he juggled various passion projects. <\/p>\n

As he says, \u201cI\u2019ve only got two speeds: sprint or stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

The diagnosis put things in sharp focus for Palmer. \u201c[It] helps me be a little bit more compassionate with myself because I can be very self-critical,\u201d he admits. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very hard for me to feel like what you think I look like on the outside.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking back, he can understand why some things came so easily while others were a huge slog \u2013 especially when he was in the classroom. It\u2019s the same journey he\u2019s now watching in his 17-year-old son, Hugo, who has also been diagnosed with ADHD.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it seems like it\u2019s the fashion these days and that everybody\u2019s got [ADHD],\u201d Palmer tells Stellar. \u201cBut [Hugo] was diagnosed well before me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI watch my son at school and how well he\u2019s doing, and I think, \u2018I wish I\u2019d known when I was his age,\u2019 because my whole school experience would have been completely different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Listen to the Stellar podcast, Something To Talk About, below: <\/p>\n

\u2018IT\u2019S A GOOD DAY FOR ME\u2019<\/p>\n

To cope with his busy mind over the years, he\u2019s devised several strategies, chief among them intense physical exercise. <\/p>\n

\u201cBeing at the gym, my mind stops and my body takes over,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have this break from the cognitive load, which is a real benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n

That vital outlet was threatened during the pandemic, when he had to have a disc in his spine replaced after learning it had deteriorated to the point where bone was rubbing against bone. For years, he\u2019d lived with chronic pain, operating under the mindset that he should just get on with it. <\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t bend over to brush my teeth, load the dishwasher, or walk my dog properly,\u201d recalls Palmer, who is now pain-free. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd when I used to sneeze, I\u2019d fall to my knees.\u201d<\/p>\n

An added upside to his gruelling workouts is that he is always camera-ready for The Block\u2019s annual promos, which have famously featured him shirtless on a horse, shirtless among hay bales, and shirtless on a beach, Baywatch-style.<\/p>\n

This year, viewers might notice him showing a little less skin, but he laughs off any suggestion that it\u2019s the result of new-found modesty. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s nothing to do with me,\u201d he reveals. \u201cI mean, I\u2019m 48 years old. <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery second that I can still get my shirt off and people don\u2019t want to recoil, it\u2019s a good day for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Block premieres tonight at 7pm on Channel 9 and 9Now. This article originally appeared in Stellar. For more, click here<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Watching Darren Palmer judge rooms on The Block, where he\u2019s never shy with both his opinions or 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