‘It was grim’ admits The One Show’s Alex Jones as she opens up about husband Charlie’s mental health struggles
THE One Show’s Alex Jones has opened up about what it was like for her when her hubby went through his recent mental health struggle.
While featuring on Fearne Cotton’s podcast Happy Place, the BBC presenter admitted she ‘didn’t know what to do’ when Charlie Thompson was suffering.
Without disclosing too much about what her husband experienced for the sake of his privacy, Alex shared what it was like for her watching him go through it.
“Everybody has periods where you just don’t feel great,” she said.
“I mean going back to my late 20s – woah. Looking back now, that was a mess.
“And I’ve talked before, my husband has suffered in the past.”
Fearne responded: “It’s your husband’s story, we don’t need to get into your husband, but as you just touched on, he had a bad patch of mental health. It’s hard as a partner that you can’t fix them.
“That’s quite a frustrating feeling. How did you navigate that?”
Alex sighed: “You’re right. I went quite 1980s and was like – right, come on. That was the way I had been brought up. Snap out of it.
“It was grim. I didn’t know what to do. In general, I think people don’t reach out when they’re in despair.”
The One Show host previously revealed that Charlie went through a difficult period after being diagnosed with viral meningitis and Lyme Disease.
At the time she said she feared she was losing him, adding “I was looking at him and thinking I’m looking and hearing somebody who is not my husband”.
Thankfully now Charlie is in “a way better place”, and Alex said focusing on nutrition has played a huge part in that.
While on another podcast with Gabby Logan last summer, she shared: “I think it was a way for him as well to fill his days in a sense when he wasn’t feeling well.
“And he decided to take on this kind of role of, right well we’ve got the medication but I’m going to see what else I can do to help myself.
“He used to be a chef so cooking and food is very much something he loves and it brings him a lot of joy. I’m very lucky he cooks most meals. We eat really well.”