Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly said they were ‘grateful’ for their careers. (PA Images via Getty Images)
(Ian West – PA Images via Getty Images)
Ant and Dec have spoken candidly about Ant McPartlin turning his life around by getting sober and becoming “a better person”.
The I’m A Celebrity and Britain’s Got Talent co-hosts have worked together for decades since starring in Byker Grove as teens. But in 2018, McPartlin was fined £86,000 for a crash while drink-driving and took time out of TV — it was the only time that they have ever not hosted their ITV entertainment shows together.
Now, McPartlin is sober and says he is happier than ever, with a “newfound appreciation” for his TV stardom after getting back to presenting primetime shows. Meanwhile, Donnelly said that his best friend was “a much better person than he was before”.
Ant McPartlin gives update on mental health
In their first-ever podcast interview — three days before the launch of their own podcast — McPartlin was asked by Happy Place host Fearne Cotton where he was with his mental health.
He replied: “I feel pretty good. I work at it a lot. Because I’m sober, there’s things I work at daily, gratitude lists of an evening, little prayers, so it’s something you constantly have to check in with, and because of that comes a gratitude for everything you do, and for life, and for work, and friendships, relationships, love.
“As long as you keep doing that, then you’re OK. It’s like exercise, there’s a little discipline to it, and you’ll be alright. Yeah, I feel pretty good.”
Shortly before his crash and break from TV, McPartlin split from his wife of 11 years, Lisa Armstrong, and in 2021 married his former PA, Anne-Marie Corbett. He became stepfather to her two children, and the couple welcomed a son in May 2024.
Speaking about negative headlines, he added: “There was a period I had loads of stuff written about me, horrible stuff, opinion pieces and all sorts. You go past being frustrated and upset, it’s almost laughable… I’m reading about a third person who doesn’t exist, that’s not me.
“I’m still trying to be a good man, I tried to turn my life around, and I’m a better man now than I was 10 years ago, and I’m happy with that, so someone’s opinion piece won’t change my day.”
Dec Donnelly says Ant is ‘a better person’
Echoing how much progress his best pal had made, in an interview with The Times, Donnelly spoke about his “admiration” for McPartlin.
McPartlin told the newspaper: “Turning 50 for me was great because my early forties was a really tough time. These last few years, it’s the happiest I’ve been in a long, long time. What changes as you get older, especially being sober as well, for me, is the purpose.
Dec Donnelly shared his ‘admiration’ for his best friend. (Getty Images for the NTA’s)
(John Phillips via Getty Images)
“When you’re live on I’m A Celebrity in Australia, and you’re in the moment with your best friend, there’s nowhere else I want to be, but as soon as we finish, we go back to our apartments by the beach, and we’re with our families. That’s where we want to be right then.”
Donnelly added: “What I most admire is that with the challenges he’s faced, especially over the last few years, Ant took responsibility and real action. He worked on himself so much to get back not just to being himself but actually being a much better person than he was before.”
Ant McPartlin’s gratitude for revived TV career
McPartlin also told Cotton’s Happy Place podcast that he realised just how lucky he was to have been able to pick up his multi-award-winning TV career again after being in rehab.
He said: “Being out of the game of telly and showbusiness and coming back into it again, I’ve got a newfound appreciation for it, a newfound respect for everyone that does it. Not many people get to do this in their lives – step off the merry-go-round for a little bit, think, if I’m allowed to get back on then I’ll do things different, I’ll think different and I’ll enjoy it more.
The TV stars host I’m A Celebrity. (ITV screengrab)
(ITV screengrab)
“I did and things are wonderful and I think that really helps your perspective on life. We do the best job in the world. Every day we turn up and have a laugh…I go to work with my best mate.”
Talking about hosting high-profile Saturday night entertainment shows, he said: “That’s more than a job, that’s a real privilege and an honour.”
McPartlin said: “The older you get and the longer you’ve been doing it, the more grateful you are for what you do. I’m more grateful now than I’ve ever been doing any of the shows because I love them. You sit in the moment more and go this is wild, this is brilliant…how lucky are we to be doing this?”
Ant and Dec have won a record-breaking 23 National Television Awards for most popular presenter. (Getty Images for the NTA’s)
(Joe Maher via Getty Images)
Donnelly agreed: “I feel really grateful and really lucky that we’re still sitting in our career and we’re able to look back and be really grateful for everything. I would hate it if our career was over and we were sat at home going, ‘god, we had a brilliant career and I never appreciated it at the time’. To be still in our career and still going strong and have a newfound appreciation for everything, I feel incredibly lucky.”
But talking about his self-doubt, Donnelly added: “You never feel like you’ve made it. You never feel like oh great, I can relax now. I still feel like we haven’t made it, I feel like it could all go tomorrow in the blink of an eye, you never know.
“When it is over, what is the legacy left behind?”
The pair are famously huge fans of Morecambe and Wise, and Donnelly compared the classic comedians’ success to their own double act, asking: “Will people still talk about us in 20 years’ time?”
Dec Donnelly shares anxiety struggles
McPartlin isn’t the only one who has been working on his mental health — Donnelly opened up about a struggle with anxiety, admitting he found it difficult just to sit down and relax by watching TV.
He told Cotton: “I struggle a bit with, it’s kind of a low level, constant anxiety about ‘should be doing this’ or ‘I’ve got to be doing…’ I never feel I can sit down and just watch telly, I always feel like I should be doing something else. There’s that anxiety that there’s a job that needs to be done somewhere and I should be doing it.
“I struggle with that a lot, with trying to calm that voice in the back of your head that’s going, ‘no, you should be using this time more productively’.”
He added, “I went through a period of having therapy about five or six years ago. I really got a lot out of it. I really enjoyed it.”
Ant and Dec’s first podcast furore
The duo have been regular fixtures on TV for decades, as well as enjoying a 90s pop career, but they are set to branch out again with the launch of their first podcast on Thursday.
However, it has already drawn negative attention because of a promotional image on social media that some found offensive.
The TV stars are branching out into podcasting. (PA Images via Getty Images)
(Ian West – PA Images via Getty Images)
In a play on the podcast’s title, Hanging Out with Ant and Dec, the stars announced their new project with an image of them hanging by pegs from a washing line, prompting commenters to accuse them of being insensitive to anyone struggling with mental health.
The image has since been removed, and a spokesperson for them said: “We did not mean to cause any offence with this promo video, and we are sorry if it has upset anyone. We have taken on board the comments and have deleted the video.”
Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place is streaming now.
Hanging Out with Ant and Dec launches on Thursday, 22 January.
This article originally appeared on Yahoo TV UK at https://uk.news.yahoo.com/ant-dec-mental-health-addiction-podcast-interview-141617873.html