Chris Packham has has revealed he once tried to end his own life after suffering a devastating loss.
The BBC Springwatch presenter, 62, has received death threats and vicious online trolling in the past, but says what hit him the harded was the death of his beloved dog.
The poodle called Fish came into Packham’s life in 2001, bought by his then-partner for his 40th birthday, and gave him immediate joy until the dog was run over and killed when just a year old.
Appearing on the Mirror’s Men in Mind podcast, in association with charity Mind, Packham spoke candidly about his past mental health battles.
The presenter, who has autism, said: “I was suicidal... but I didn’t have enough pills. That’s what it came down to.”
Scared by what had happened, Packman went to his doctor and had therapy sessions.
He added: “It was like I got hit by a train. It was like I was winded, I could barely breathe because of everything that was coming out and it had been locked up for so long.”
The naturalist admited he has suffered from other desperate moments, even while he was undergoing treatment.
He explained: “I’d started to spend a lot of time in France, and I was on my own there for quite long periods, and on another occasion I came very close to killing myself.
“And what kept me alive were the dogs, I just looked down and I thought, ‘I can’t leave them’.
“It was the fact that there wasn’t anyone else at that point who could have loved them as much as I did.”
