Huw Edwards has spoken publicly in past of 20-year struggle with mental health
The broadcaster described previously how depression had left him ‘bedridden’ at times.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Newsreader Huw Edwards has spoken publicly in the past about his mental health problems, describing how his depression and anxiety had left him unable to get out of bed at times.
The Welsh journalist and broadcaster, who has been named as the BBC presenter facing allegations over payments for sexually explicit images, has been “suffering from serious mental health issues”, according to his wife Vicky Flind.
She said that he was now “receiving in-patient hospital care where he will stay for the foreseeable future”.
The 61-year-old told Men’s Health UK in May 2022 that his depression included anxiety that tended to “hit” him “in a strong wave and then go away”.
Edwards, who has been suspended by the public service broadcaster where he has worked since 1984, also revealed in a documentary that he had experienced bouts of depression since 2002 which could leave him “bedridden”.
Speaking to mental health campaigner and columnist Alastair Campbell as part of the Men’s Health UK Talking Heads interview series, he said: “I’m pretty clear that I have suffered – and do suffer – from depression.
Your mind goes into a place where you don’t want to do anything. You can’t make any decisions. Things that you usually enjoy, you dread. You come into work and obviously you do a professional job, but you’re kind of pushing your way through it
“It’s not anxiety, although it includes anxiety, but it tends to hit me in a strong wave and then go away … I think at least I now know when I’m going to enter a phase like that.
“Your mind goes into a place where you don’t want to do anything. You can’t make any decisions.
“Things that you usually enjoy, you dread. You come into work and obviously you do a professional job, but you’re kind of pushing your way through it.
“And, of course, if it’s very bad – as it has been a few times over the course of 20 years – you can’t work. During the worst one I had, I couldn’t get out of bed.”