Alex Jones on feeling ‘sick’ over her attitude to husband Charlie’s mental health crisis: ‘I feel awful for being like that’

The One Show star Alex Jones previously lifted the lid on husband Charlie’s battle with depression and how it affected her and their three young kids.

Alex spoke with refreshing honesty as she candidly explained how her struggles coping with Charlie’s breakdown left her feeling “sick”, due to her previous attitude about the topic.

The BBC star discussed the topic on the How To Fail podcast with Elizabeth Day back in January 2023.

The One Show’s Alex Jones opened up about her husband’s mental health battle (Credit: John Rainford/ Cover Images)

The One Show star Alex Jones on husband Charlie

Alex explained how her husband Charlie, who she married nine years ago, began to struggle after he was diagnosed with Lyme disease, then battled viral meningitis.

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that can be spread to humans by infected ticks and due to the fatigue it causes can also trigger anxiety, irritability and depression.

The One Show host admitted it caused him to become a “shadow of himself”. She also shared: “He was so ill, he really went downhill fast mentally. And I found myself at a loss thinking, oh my God. I don’t know what to do here?”

‘It knocks you for six’

Speaking on the podcast, Alex explained: “It knocks you for six as a family and as you say, not just the person going through it but the person that then has to deal with the fallout of the whole thing. It’s full on.”

Alex also discussed the difficulty in helping care for a loved one struggling with mental health issues. “Not with Charlie necessarily but, you know, my past experience and I didn’t realise it but I couldn’t help that person.

“Now I feel so sick about it, because, I mean, it was debilitating for him.”

Alex shared her thoughts in a candid chat with Elizabeth Day (Credit: BBC)
Alex also admitted: “I was stuck in my mum’s mindset of ‘Oh for goodness sake, come on. Can we not get on with it? I feel down some days, it doesn’t mean I’m depressed. Come on, tomorrow’s gonna be better.’ And I feel awful for just being like that. Whereas now we understand it a lot more.”

She confessed about her husband’s battle: “I thought I was losing him, as in not actually losing him. But I thought, oh my God, where is he? I can’t see him.

“I was looking at him and I’m thinking, I’m looking and hearing somebody who’s not my husband.”