Springwatch star Chris Packham has revealed that he quit drinking because he feared he would become addicted. The popular presenter has not consumed alcohol since January.
Talking to mirror, Chris, 61, said, “I drank too much and too often, and I thought,‘ You’re getting addicted to it, ’and I really don’t like the idea of addiction. I was scared of it, I just stopped instantly. ”
Environmentalist Chris, who returns to our screens later this month with a new Springwatch series, spoke during Mental Health Week.
He said: “As you know, I have reached a point where I am very serious and until the last moment thought about taking my own life because I was depressed.”
“I thought to myself, in this regard, I should never allow myself to get to that point again. I have to do something I can dwell on before I get to this point, otherwise I will end up killing myself. ”
Chris said he underwent “an intensive course of therapy that lasted three years.”
The popular presenter, who was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome at the age of 40, talked to Britons Good Morning Ben Shephard and Kate Garaway about his condition last November.
He said that when he was a young man in the 1970s, “diagnoses of autism were not freely available.
“So it’s perhaps not surprising that not many people of my generation were diagnosed until much later in life.”
“The impact of this diagnosis in the future is completely different,” he admitted.
Kate asked Chris about his diagnosis, saying, “Did it lift you up in a positive way?”
Chris said that at the time of diagnosis it had not had “too much of an impact”.
He explained: “I realized this many years ago. Interestingly, when I talk to my friends and colleagues, they say, ‘Well, you’ve changed since that diagnosis.’
In the new three-week Springwatch series, Chris will be joined by regular co-hosts Mikaela Strachan and Iola Williams.
Zoologist and wildlife presenter Megan McCabin, who is also a stepdaughter of Chris, will once again be part of the presentation team.
May 30 begins the spring hour on BBC2.
If you or any of your acquaintances have been affected by this story, contact Alcoholics Anonymous for free support on 0800 9177 650 or email help@aamail.org
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