I’m A Celeb’s Dean McCullough has battled alcohol addiction that left him in a “really dark place” and celebrated four years of sobriety in September.
The BBC Radio 1 presenter admitted he gave up drinking after abusing alcohol during the pandemic, when he drank two bottles of wine and a bottle of vodka at weekends.
After a trip to Ibiza with his friends before the Jungle, the Northern Irish star wrote on social media: ‘Over the past 18 months I have had a whirlwind of experiences.
‘I bought my own house and felt a bit stressed about it.
‘I fell in love with the wrong person and had to go through the breakdown of that. I had a shift at work and experienced all that.
‘Unfortunately, family members have passed away and we have all had to deal with the deep pain of this.
I’m A Celeb’s Dean McCullough has battled alcohol addiction that left him in a ‘really dark place’ and celebrated four years of sobriety in September
The BBC Radio 1 presenter admitted he gave up drinking after abusing alcohol during the pandemic, when he drank two bottles of wine and a bottle of vodka at weekends.
‘I wanted to stop drinking for a month to refocus my thoughts and regain control of what was a spiraling problem.
‘I wanted to go for my dream job at Radio 1 but had absolutely no idea how that would happen, but what would happen next would be remarkable.
‘Everything was right, I stayed sober for another month and then Radio 1 came on, my mind opened and I felt like myself.’
The DJ revealed that during the Covid-19 lockdowns his drinking had spiraled out of control and his mental health had been seriously affected.
“What seemed like a glass of wine one night after work turned into a bottle that turned into two bottles, and some weekends I was also drinking like a bottle of vodka.
‘It wasn’t until I went to work on Monday that I looked at the bins and thought, ‘Didn’t I drink all that?’
After a trip to Ibiza with his friends before the Jungle, the Northern Irish star wrote on social media: ‘Over the past 18 months I have had a whirlwind of experiences
‘I wanted to go for my dream job at Radio 1, but had no idea how that would happen, but what would happen next would be special’
‘But I would have, because there was no one else in the house. It was the pandemic, and I was putting myself in a bad state and I was thinking some very, very dark thoughts to myself. Anyone who has struggled with mental health knows what it’s like.
He added: “I didn’t plan it. I didn’t think, ‘This is my last drink. This is my last party.’ I literally woke up on September 1st, turned to my partner and said, ‘This is it, like I’m going to stop drinking for a month. Just to see what happens.”
‘There was no real crucial moment. It wasn’t really a terrible hangover. I have not experienced any breakage.
“I just saw the path in front of me and it wasn’t nice. It was really dark and it was very destructive.”