Alfie Boe: I took overdose after marriage heartbreak

OPERA and pop star Alfie Boe has been hiding a tragic secret from his fans.

- Emma Cox

The Blackpool-born tenor has revealed he took an overdose after separating from his wife two years ago.

Emotional Alfie makes the startling revelations next week on BBC reality show Freeze The Fear, in which celebrities take part in a series of endurance challenges with “Iceman” Wim Hof.

The Dutch guru’s techniques include ice swimming and using breathwork to help people improve their physical and mental health.

After plunging into a hole full of icy water, Boe opens up about the depression he suffered when he split from Sarah, mother of his children Grace and Alfred.

Speaking on the show, the Les Miserables star says: “When my separation happened initially I went into a really dark place. It’s weird to talk about, I’ve not spoken about this in public, but I’m willing to if it can help anyone out there that needs that.

“I’d gone through beating myself up and hating myself and not having any love for myself and it resulted in a foolish act of throwing some pills down my throat because I’d lost my way. I ended up in a rehab facility for about five weeks. It was a scary time.”

The 48-year-old OBE holder, who has sold a million albums and performed for royalty, has rarely spoken about the split which happened in August 2020.

But in moving scenes on the show, hosted by Holly Willoughby and Lee Mack, he admits he is still struggling.