‘I thought I was losing him’: Alex Jones says her husband has become a ‘shadow of himself’ while suffering mental health battle which she struggles to fully understand

• Presenter, 45, says husband of seven years Charlie has spiraled into depression
• Alex watched the insurance broker’s mental health ‘fall apart’ after becoming seriously ill with Lyme Disease and viral meningitis
• The One Show host, who has three children with Charlie, admits she struggles to fully understand his battle and feels pressure to be the breadwinner
•  Alex says the family have been ‘knocked for six’ by her husband’s struggles
• For confidential support, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch. See www.samaritans.org for details

Alex Jones has revealed her husband Charlie Thomson has become a ‘shadow of himself’ as he battles with his mental health. 

The One Show presenter, 45, said she has watched her husband of seven years ‘fall apart’ after becoming seriously ill with Lyme Disease and viral meningitis. 

Mother-of-three Alex said Charlie went ‘downhill fast mentally’ with the health scares spiraling him into a dark depression as she opened up on struggling to fully understand his struggles and her own fears that she is ‘losing him’.

Heartbreaking: Alex Jones has revealed her husband Charlie Thomson has become a ‘shadow of himself’ as he battles with his mental health 

Alex said: ‘It’s my husband’s own story to tell, so I won’t go into detail, but he suffers with his mental health and we’ve just been through a really bad period where, bless him, he had Lyme Disease and then he had viral meningitis. Lots of things happened recently.

‘Charlie’s super fun, but he became a shadow of himself. He was so ill, he really went downhill fast mentally.

‘And again I found myself at a loss thinking “Oh my God, I don’t know what to do here”. We all talk a good game, but do we actually know how to help people?’ 

‘We’ve just been through a bad period’: The One Show presenter, 45, said she has watched her husband ‘fall apart’ after becoming seriously ill with Lyme Disease and viral meningitis

Alex said while Charlie is ‘coming up the other side in peaks and troughs’ there was a time where she couldn’t recognise her bubbly, fun husband. 

She said on the How to Fail podcast: ‘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”.’ 

The couple met at a party in 2011 and married four years later, and went on to have children Teddy, five, Kit, three, and Annie, 17 months. 

Worried: Mother-of-three Alex said Charlie went ‘downhill fast mentally’ with the health scares spiraling him into a dark depression, sparking the TV star to feel she is ‘losing him’

Alex revealed she struggles to understand Charlie’s mental health battle and has been honest with him in lengthy conversations. 

She said: ‘He tries to explain it, and I said “Do you think I’m a terrible person because I don’t quite get it?”

‘And he says “No, but because you’re trying to get it, I love you for that”. But he said it is hard to fully understand it.

Hardworking: Alex said as a family they have been ‘knocked for six’ and feels pressure to be the main breadwinner (pictured, a behind-the-scenes snap with her children on The One Show)

‘I listen to lots of podcasts where depression is discussed at length. And some of the time I feel if you’re really depressed – and I ‘ve seen it in the last few months – you’re not alright enough to be on a podcast. And I’m confused as to where we are.

‘You feel the pressure because suddenly you’re the breadwinner, you’re the parent who is functioning. 

‘Just life admin is now your responsibility, plus the person you love most is falling apart in front of you and you’re trying to piece them together without proper understanding of how best to go about that.’

Alex said as a family they have been ‘knocked for six’.

Tough: Alex said while Charlie is ‘coming up the other side in peaks and troughs’ there was a time where she couldn’t recognise her bubbly, fun husband (pictured with son Teddy, five) 

She said: ‘I wouldn’t go into detail because Charlie’s super private, but I think it’s worth sharing because it knocks you for six as a family – not just the person going through it, but the person that then has to deal with the fall out of the whole thing. 

‘It’s full on.’

Asked what advice she’d give families experiencing what hers has been going through, she replied: ‘The only advice I can give is what we did and seek professional help, because I didn’t feel equipped to. 

‘So I just went really gently. I let him have the time. And you do feel frustration, especially when you don’t realise the magnitude of it.

‘Because you think, “Oh my God, well, ok, I’ll sort everything else out while this is going on”. But you very quickly see “Oh gosh, this is super serious”.

‘And I just went very, very gently. We do talk a lot as a couple. So we talked it through a lot and I said “I’m worried because I’m not sure I feel equipped to know how to help” and he said “if you can just the research and find the best person”.

‘And it’s hard because the NHS are backed up beyond belief. People can’t get appointments who desperately need appointments, especially in the mental health sector. 

‘And we’re lucky because we could pay and get help quicker. But I think the only way to approach it is professional.

‘I said “What I found is, probably the first step is we need to go to the GP. then these are the people, I’ve got three options for you, do you think you want to ring any of these people and have an initial chat?”

‘And he was like “Well this person sounds a bit more like somebody I could open up to”. And me taking the legwork out of it for him is what saved it in the end.’

For confidential support, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch. See www.samaritans.org for details

Love: The couple met at a party in 2011 and married four years later, and went on to have children Teddy, five, Kit, three, and Annie, 17 months

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