Welsh TV presenter and The One Show host Alex Jones has appeared on the How To Fail With Elizabeth Day podcast and spoke very candidly about her husband's, Charlie Thompson, mental health. In an open and honest conversation with podcast host, author and journalist Elizabeth Day, Alex said she "doesn't fully understand" mental health and wants to improve her understanding and how to help her family when it comes to improving their mental health.
Speaking on the podcast, which celebrates the things that haven't gone right and every week, a new interviewee explores what their failures taught them about how to succeed with Elizabeth, Alex gave her third failure as her failure "to really understand mental health" and her "quest to be much better at it." Alex admitted that she was nervous to talk so openly about the sensitive topic.
She said: "I really thought for so long, am I going to open a huge can of worms here? But, I think it is important, so here we go. We are surrounded now by, which is brilliant, people talking about mental health and podcasts about mental health but I still don't know whether I really understand it enough."
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Alex spoke about past relationships where she looks back with regret that she was not more understanding and accepting of her partner's mental health struggles. She explained that she couldn't understand why a former partner was struggling to get out of bed some days and spoke about how her childhood shaped her views.
She said: "I was brought up in a house in the early '80s with mum and dad who were very practical people, the attitude was you just get on with it and that really shapes you as a person and I think a lot of us are scared to say that. We feel like we have got to be like 'oh yeah, we get it' but do we really get it? Do we get it enough?...we all talk a good game but do we actually know how to help people?"
The 45-year-old also spoke about the mental health of her husband Charlie Thomson and said they had just been through a "really bad period" where Charlie had Lyme disease and viral meningitis and his mental health was deeply affected. Alex explained that Charlie was recovering and getting help with his mental health but at one point she feared she was losing him.
She said: "I thought I was losing him, not actually losing him, but I thought oh my God where is he? I can't see him, I was looking at him and thinking I'm looking and hearing somebody who is not my husband." Alex explained she has long and open conversations with Charlie about his mental health and explains to him that she is trying her best to understand.
Alex also explained she chose to go on the How To Fail With Elizabeth Day podcast to talk about the sensitive topic as it was a "safe space" for her to share her stories. Elizabeth Day is a journalist and author who has written six books covering topics like sexual abuse and struggles with fertility.
You can listen to How To Fail With Elizabeth Day on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and on Audible.
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