Roman Kemp contemplated jumping in front of a train amid his depression battle.
Roman Kemp
The 28-year-old TV star - who is the son of musicians Martin Kemp and Shirlie Holliman - has revealed that he contemplated suicide at the height of his mental health struggles.
He shared: "All these pressures just came on top of me. I remember being in my bedroom not knowing what to do. That day, I thought about going to the train station and jumping in front of a train."
Shirlie, 59 - who has suffered with anxiety all of her life - first spotted something concerning about her son's behaviour when he was still in his teens.
The singer also explained that her own understanding of mental health issues improved through Roman's experience.
She told Fabulous magazine: "I noticed a real shift in his personality. He was quiet and started staying in his bedroom a lot. And he became a lot moodier, where normally he is this funny, jokey person doing impersonations.
"I said to him: ‘I think you’re suffering depression and I’d like you to go and see a doctor and talk to someone else about it.’ He told the doctor something he’d never told me – that when he woke up, it felt like someone had given him terrible news, only they hadn’t.
"The doctor told him it was clinical depression and what I realised is, it’s not that your children are having bad lives and so they’re depressed – it’s chemical. Roman was given medication, and the change came about so quickly.
"It’s quite a dilemma as a parent to think: ‘Would you want your child on antidepressants?’ Or: ‘Is it a failure in me?’ But it wasn’t about me. And the change that came about within a few weeks was incredible."
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