Huw Edwards was left "bedridden" by his two-decade battle with depression.
Huw Edwards has opened up about his mental health
The 'BBC News at Ten' presenter has revealed he "didn't want to go to work" as he battled mental health problems which started in 2002, shortly before he took on his role on the nightly news programme.
Speaking in new Welsh-language documentary 'Huw Edwards at 60', he said: "People tend to think that if you are confident, then you never doubt yourself.
“But that’s not true. 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 went down fairly quickly and I couldn’t understand it. I didn’t want to speak to anybody."
Huw - who turned 60 over the summer - suggested it could have been due to him being unhappy at work, and he described the feelings as "overwhelming".
He added: “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.
"And, of course, the issue was that you have to maintain a public image, that is – you’re a well-known face."
Dad-of-five Huw explained how he had to give himself pep talks before going on hairas he learned to "push himself".
And the presenter - who has fronted 'BBC News at Ten' since 2003 - also admitted he had "another bout" of depression years later.
He said: "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.
"And then, I had another bout that wasn’t quite so severe in the years after.”