Comedian and TV star Paddy McGuinness confessed he was in “shock” when he was diagnosed with depression as he opened up about his mental health battle for the first time. The 52-year-old was first diagnosed with the condition about five years ago, just as he was preparing to create his BBC documentary about his children’s autism.
Paddy opened up about his depression during a conversation with Fearne Cotton on her Happy Place podcast, just a few days after he tearfully announced the death of close friend and boxing legend Ricky Hatton on his BBC Radio 2 show.
When questioned about his reaction to the diagnosis, Paddy admitted he was surprised he didn’t recognise the early warning signs and that depression had gradually snuck up on him. He managed by keeping himself busy with work.
Paddy revealed: “Firstly, a shock because with depression – personally, you don’t realise it. It’s people around you, your friends and your family who will kind of [say] you’re not yourself today or you’re reacting a little bit differently. And me at the time, when it started creeping in, my first twins were diagnosed with autism and that was a lot to take on and to sort of compute.
“Because before you have children – and this is me speaking as a bloke – you have an idea in your head of how it’s going to be. So, you know, on the park, a game of football or you’re going to go here and you do that, you do this and all that, then all of a sudden it all changes.
“So, I didn’t realise how much that started creeping into my mind and just how upset I was at the time and not being able to deal with things and what have you. So you throw yourself into work and like most people, you think, ‘Oh, I’ve got to, I’ve got to provide for my family and I’ve got to try and get as much as I can now because these children are going to need as much support as possible’
With the problem identified, Christine, his ex-wife, suggested that Paddy seek help from a therapist at the Priory clinic. He did not warm to the idea at first and even considered giving it up before a pivotal moment changed his mind.
“I went there and started talking to this therapist, and it was kind of all right, but it didn’t really work for me. I saw two different therapists and thought, ‘I’m wasting my money here.’ Then someone got in touch and said, ‘There’s this guy at the Priory and he said he’ll see you.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, come on. All right, I’ll give it a go this last time.’
“And honestly, after that first hour, I felt just light. I felt like I got so much off my chest and talking about my children and autism and my life. And there’s no two ways about it. I honestly felt like, ‘God, I wish I had done this sooner’. It’s like a weight off your shoulders.”
In 2021, the documentary Paddy and Christine McGuinness: Our Family and Autism was released, showcasing the couple raising their three children Leo, Penelope and Felicity, who were all diagnosed with the neurological condition. Despite being challenging, Paddy admitted that making the film was the lifeline he needed.
“I felt like I was drowning and I needed help, and I wanted someone to throw me a lifeline,” he confessed. “And I thought, ‘I need to speak about this’, because what was happening is I was going to work and doing shows, which is all jazz hands, and dealing with management and different things, and no one had a clue what was going on.
“I need to talk to someone about this. So the idea of the documentary was really originally to try and get some help.”
Christine and their three children all received autism diagnoses and Paddy admitted it was “little things” that “helped depression come to a front”, reports the Manchester Evening News.
He added: “They’re all little chinks in the armour that were slowly being eroded that I didn’t realise. But again, on the positive, the job is brilliant for then talking about things because you’re going to reach more people and you’re going to make more people aware, so I take the positives out of things like that.”