The BBC’s chief newsreader, Huw Edwards, has revealed he has suffered bouts of depression that have left him “bedridden” during a 20-year struggle with his mental health.
In a Welsh-language documentary about his career, Edwards said at times the problem has been so severe he “didn’t want to go to work” as he fought to reconcile his assured public persona with his low moods.
Edwards, 60, said his bouts of depression began in 2002, when he was presenting the Six O’Clock news, and a year before he became the presenter of the corporation’s main nightly bulletin at 10.
“People tend to think that if you are confident, then you never doubt yourself. But that’s not true,” he said.
“Like everyone that suffers with depression, you don’t get one bout of it. It comes and goes. For me, it started around 2002 I think. I went down fairly quickly and I couldn’t understand it.”
He added: “I couldn’t get out of bed. I didn’t want to go to work. I didn’t want to speak to anybody. 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.
“The issue was you have to maintain a public image, that is – 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.
“Eventually it did alleviate. And then, I had another bout that wasn’t quite so severe in the years after that.”
Edwards is the latest prominent figure to admit to mental health problems. He said losing weight and taking up boxing had helped improve his mood.
“I never understood before that there was a connection between your physical and mental health,” he said.
“There’s a lot of advantages when it comes to boxing – the practice, the fitness, and there’s something else – a kind of peace of mind.
“You are in some sort of a personal zone. The whole thing is about relaxing even though it is fitness.”
Edwards has previously admitted that he was “angered” by the decision to publish the salaries of highest paid employees at the BBC. The BBC’s latest figures revealed he took a pay cut from £599,000 to £529,000 last year.
The documentary, Huw Edwards yn 60, will be broadcast on S4C on 29 December.