‘I couldn’t describe how overwhelming it was’: Newsreader Huw Edwards, 60, details his 20-year battle with depression which left him ‘bedridden’
- The journalist revealed in a Welsh-language documentary celebrating his career that he had been ‘bedridden’ by mental health problems
- Huw has been fronting BBC News At Ten for 18 years and recalled the moment he ‘went down fairly quickly’ in 2002 and ‘didn’t want to talk to anybody’
- The father-of-five also spoke of how he lost three-and-a-half-stone through exercise such as boxing, which helped him back to health
- To find out where to receive urgent help for mental health, click here
Huw Edwards has detailed his 20-year-battle with depression which left him bedbound.
The Welsh journalist, 60, who has fronted BBC News At Ten for 18 years, admitted the problems began in 2002- the year before he took his presenting stint for the corporation’s flagship news broadcast.
Speaking in a Welsh-language documentary celebrating his career, the newsreader said he had been ‘bedridden’ by mental health problems and ‘didn’t want to go to work’.
‘I couldn’t describe how overwhelming it was’: Newsreader Huw Edwards detailed his 20-year battle with depression which left him ‘bedridden’ in a new documentary
‘People tend to think that if you are confident, then you never doubt yourself. But that’s not true. Like everyone that suffers with depression, you don’t get one bout of it. It comes and goes,’ he explained.
The Bridgend native poignantly recalled when he ‘went down fairly quickly’.
In full, he said: ‘For me, it started around 2002. I went down fairly quickly and I couldn’t understand it. I didn’t want to speak to anybody.
Opening up: The Welsh journalist admitted the problems began in 2002, the year before he took his presenting stint for the corporation’s flagship news broadcast (pictured 2020)
‘Maybe it was partly due to the fact that I wasn’t happy in work. I couldn’t describe how overwhelming it was. I had a bit of a scare and I had never experienced that before.’
Work woes was not the only demon the father-of-five was facing, it was the prospect of maintaining a public image because ‘you’re a well known face.’
‘Whenever I had to go live on air, I would literally have to tell myself, “Come on now, you’ll be OK now. You just have to do it,” and I just had to push myself in a way,’ he retold.
Passion: The presenter also spoke of losing three-and-a-half-stone in the documentary, revealing that exercise such as boxing helped him back to health
Huw’s second bout of depression in the years after ‘wasn’t as severe’.
The presenter also spoke of losing three-and-a-half-stone in the documentary, revealing that exercise such as boxing helped him back to health.
Huw has garnered an extensive list of presenting stints since joining the BBC as a news trainee in 1984.
Highlights of his 37-year-career include: presenting BBC Six O’Clock News for just under four years, covering major royal events such as the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and Prince Philip’s funeral – and stepping up as lead presenter for the 2019 general election coverage on 12 and 13 December.
To find out where to receive urgent help for mental health, click here.
Huw Edwards at 60 is to be aired at 9pm on December 29 on S4C.
Coverage: Highlights of his 37-year-career include: presenting BBC Six O’Clock News and covering major royal events such as Prince Philip’s funeral (pictured, April 2021)
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