ITV's Tom Bradbury opens up on breakdown and says 'I could have helped Huw Edwards'
ITV News presenter Tom Bradby has opened up on his past mental health issues and said he believes he "could have helped" BBC news reader Huw Edwards. In July last year, it was revealed Huw was in hospital suffering from “serious mental health issues” as he faced allegations he paid for sexual content.
Discussing his breakdown Tom revealed he helped colleagues in the past and would "probably" have been able to help Huw. The 57-year-old, who will front ITV's election night coverage, was asked in an interview if he could have aided his fellow journalist.
"Yes, probably, a bit. You think about the world differently once you've had a breakdown and spent a lot of time talking about the stresses and strains we place on ourselves," he said speaking to Radio Times.
Tom has been very vocal about his struggles with mental health issues and further opened up during the chat. "I went from thinking I was OK to being in really significant crisis, very fast," the father-of-three explained.
"If you don’t sleep at all the night before doing News at Ten, you are terrified you’re not going to be able to sleep again. Then you can’t sleep because you know you must sleep, and you go into crisis."
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Tom Bradby will front ITV's election night coverage (Image: ITV)The newsreader said speaking about his own struggles led others in the industry who felt they were in a similar situation to approach him. He went on to tell the publication helping others with their battles has "enhanced" his life and he hopes it continues.
He has previously said how his wife had warned that he was close to a “very dangerous cliff-edge”.
Tom took a break from work in 2018 due to his insomnia and addiction to sleeping pills.
He thought he was having a heart attack as a result of his struggles with sleep which led to him being forced to take a break.
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Speaking at a panel event at the Cheltenham Literature Festival in 2020, he recalled: “I was trying to do the News At Ten – when you don’t really know what’s happening and you’ve never had a mental health crisis before, you have no idea what one really is and you never imagined it would happen to you,” he said.
“And here I am in my corner office of the ITV newsroom on the floor, with my feet in the air, having what I think is a heart attack. I feel so weak I can hardly stand up.
"I can tell my body is pumping with adrenaline and weirdly what I did was the right thing which was to run up and down the stairs to drain it off and then lie down to calm myself down. I was in a sorry state,” he admitted.
Tom has also cited the death of his parents as the trigger for a “deep crisis” and said once he had come to terms with that he started to sleep better.
If you have been affected by the issues in this story, help and support is available via the Samaritans 24 hours a day.
ITV's Tom Bradbury opens up on breakdown and says 'I could have helped Huw Edwards'
ITV's Tom Bradbury opens up on breakdown and says 'I could have helped Huw Edwards'
ITV's Tom Bradbury opens up on breakdown and says 'I could have helped Huw Edwards'
ITV's Tom Bradbury opens up on breakdown and says 'I could have helped Huw Edwards'
ITV's Tom Bradbury opens up on breakdown and says 'I could have helped Huw Edwards'
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