It's hard to watch someone you love in pain

Melanie Blumenthal was told not to talk about her husband Heston’s bipolar diagnosis. She tells ELLA WALKER why they decided to go against that advice

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TALKING can change everything. That's the lesson Melanie Blumenthal, the wife of celebrity chef Heston, has learned.

“It can be hard to sit down in front of someone you love and say, ‘You realise this is not OK. What can we do about it?’ [Rather] than just keep on smiling and let this person be,’ says the 39-year-old. “Letting this person be’ is to arrive at the point that can put his life in danger.”

The French-born entrepreneur had been married to the chef and molecular gastronomy expert for just a few months when, in November 2023, she had to have him sectioned in France under the mental health act. Heston, now 59, was admitted to a psychiatric ward and diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and since then, the couple have been determined to talk about their experience.

Melanie, a new ambassador for Bipolar UK (@bipolar-uk), explains: “When we had H’s [Heston’s] diagnosis, we were told, ‘Don’t talk about it. Don’t say anything, hide it,’” she remembers, adding with a smile: “Unfortunately for them, we are people who, if you tell us: ‘Don’t do that; we do it.”

“The stigmatisation of bipolar changes from people talking about it,’ says Heston, sitting beside his wife, wearing his trademark glasses.

“You look at the number of people it affects; you've got more than one million diagnosed. How many more are undiagnosed? And then the loved ones that care for people with bipolar, that have to live with it before it’s diagnosed.”