Rylan Clark has discussed the way he managed to rebuild his confidence after hitting rock bottom while suffering a breakdown following the collapse of his marriage.
The 34-year-old reality star was married to 43-year-old Big Brother contestant Dan Neal in 2015 but their relationship imploded when Rylan came clean about cheating on him.
The pair saw their marriage collapse in 2021 and they ultimately divorced that year - with Rylan then struggling with his mental health.
Rylan explained that he found himself unable to do even the smallest task as he was consumed by his emotions - but learned to take small steps and rebuild his life.
He told the Sun on Sunday: “I couldn’t make my mum a cup of tea. I had the fear. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t listen to music and I couldn’t watch TV.
“What I look back on is little things. You need to look at yourself like a toddler. Going to the kitchen and pressing the button on the kettle is a step.
"The day that you go, ‘I’m just going to press the button — I’m not making the tea, let it boil, f*** it off’. The day you do that, that’s a little step. And the reason I say toddler is because you sit and applaud yourself for that."
Last week, Rylan opened up about his doomed marriage and how the end of it took a toll on his mental health.
He said whilst a guest on the latest episode of the High Performance podcast: "A year ago I had a marriage breakdown, which turned into a mental breakdown for me."
Rylan said it was the first time that his career "slowed down and stopped," saying: "I was the one pressing the emergency stop button. I just stopped and shut down [for 5 months]."
He suggested that for almost a decade he "never [had] time to breathe and understand" his rise to fame, having said on the podcast that he had become "famous overnight".
He explained to hosts Jake Humphrey and Damian Hughes that he tried to take his own during the difficult period. He however stated that he is now "glad" that he is still alive.
And asked how he is doing now, he commented: "Brilliant. Really good. [...] The clouds started to part when I realised that I hadn't lost something I thought I had.
"I turned a situation that I thought was an awful situation into an opportunity. I was 34 and I realised that when something's not right, it's not right. It wasn't right."
He said that's when "things started changing," recalling that he began to look at things as opportunities and as a chance to figure out what he wanted for himself moving forward.
Rylan commented: "I started looking at different things as opportunities, to sit there and go 'maybe this is my time now to find out what I actually want, what I need, who I am'."
It was suggested by host Jake that the experience had given Rylan an opportunity to grow as a person, outside of his career. He agreed, responding: "I'm definitely growing."
* Follow Mirror Celebs on Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
