‘We need to get over the stigma of men’s mental health’

Jamie Laing opens up about his own mental-health journey

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He might play the happy-go-lucky class clown on TV, but Jamie Laing has revealed his ‘really scary’ mental health battle as he encourages other men to open up about their challenges.

The presenter and podcast host, 36, who shot to fame on E4’s Made in Chelsea, says his lowest point was his first panic attack — which left him feeling ‘lonely and isolated’ and resulted in severe anxiety.

During that first panic attack 14 years ago, he didn’t understand what was going on. ‘Back then, this conversation around mental health that we have now, didn’t exist. I was feeling very lonely and isolated within myself. I also felt embarrassed and scared about what I was feeling,’ he says. ‘I didn’t talk about it to anyone and because of that, I didn’t understand if it was ever going to stop. When you don’t know if something is ever going to end, it’s a really scary position to be in.’

Laing, who now openly speaks up about the power of men sharing how they are feeling confirmed that as soon as he reached out to a friend many years later, it was a ‘huge moment of relief. After telling him how I was feeling, I got an echo back and he told me not to worry. He said that we would go through it together,’ he says.