Love Island’s Kem Cetinay has opened up about his struggle with anxiety, revealing that he considered suicide when he was younger.
The star, who won the 2017 series of the show, chatted with his mum about his mental health.
Explaining that, coming from a traditional Turkish family, mental health was a taboo topic, Kem said: ‘I pretty much got taken out of school completely, I wasn’t healthy or safe enough to be in school.’
He added that coming out of school with one GCSE was when he ‘hit rock bottom’.
‘I used to think about suicide,’ he said, adding that his mum found a notebook in which he wrote down all his feelings.
‘I had no education, no friends, I felt like a burden,’ Kem said.
Chatting about when he was set to appear on Love Island, his mum Figen confessed: ‘I was devastated. My question was “Why would you do this after everything you’ve been through?”‘
However, while she acknowledged the conversation about Love Island’s aftercare following the tragic deaths of Mike Thalassitis and Sophie Gradon, she said: ‘In our case, I think it actually helped Kem because he came to terms with himself.’
Now, he says he’s doing much better.
‘I’m better with dealing with it,’ he said. ‘I was always holding back so when the [Love Island] opportunity came up, I wanted my mum and dad to see the real Kem.’
Explaining the benefits of opening up about mental health, he pointed out: ‘Just talking, it opens your mind up.
‘It does a lot more damage in your head than out in the open.’
Kem has previously been open about his mental health, telling Sunday Times’ Style magazine: ‘Anxiety can be a dark path if you don’t handle it well. I’ve seen it first hand.
‘People don’t know I didn’t finish school, that I was a different person to how I am now … I basically had therapy seven days a week for, like, three years.’
He added: ‘It was only because I had the best help that I got through it. Talk to people, be honest about it – it’s so much better. A lot of guys have insecurities.’
This Morning airs weekdays at 10.30 on ITV1.
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