Dr Alex George opens up about hitting 20 stone after brother's suicide
Love Island's Dr Alex George has shared how he reached 20 stone before overhauling his life, quitting drinking and making gentle exercise a priority.
Speaking to Alex Legouix on the Auto Trader Show on the Road podcast Alex revealed that he suffered from depression after his brother’s death by suicide in July 2020.
Dr Alex also opened up about his childhood, his career ambitions and being a mental health ambassador while in the passenger seat on a road trip around West Wales.
During the podcast recording they go past Alex’s family home in Carmarthenshire, sparking memories of a “simpler time” and visit his Primary School and the hospital where he was born on their drive.
Alex also shares how he considers his time on Love Island a stepping stone to the work he can do now to raise awareness about mental health. He shares how he drank excessive amounts of alcohol in his grief and weighed over 20 stone before receiving treatment for depression.
His recovery journey also prompted Alex to receive an ADHD diagnosis.
Alex said: “Following my brother’s death, outside of work, I drank loads of alcohol, abused my body in many ways.
“I didn't exercise, ate food to just comfort myself, and then I ended up on antidepressants.
“The next thing you know, I'm 20 plus stone, in a terrible state.
“My psychiatrist said that I was like a house of cards at the time and if you pulled one card out the whole thing would collapse.
“That led to me being diagnosed with ADHD.
“Then I started walking, the walking was huge. Nature is soothing. Then I started going to the gym. I started eating better and then I stopped drinking alcohol.
“I've never really looked back. I don't know if I'll drink again. I wouldn't say never but I would never drink the way that I did. I think once you've learned something so profound you can't unlearn that.”
He spoke about how hugely his life changed after Love Island, saying: “I've got 2 million followers on Instagram. I wouldn't have that right now if it wasn't for that show.
"But I think it's very important for anyone going on television in any capacity to understand the risks of their mental health, you know, I wouldn't choose fame but fame has allowed me to do things that I care about.
“I don't particularly care about fame, but what I do love is the opportunity that it gives me to do things I care about. So I'd say to anyone going on a tv show, just really think about why, because if you're doing it because you want to feel famous, I’d really think about it very carefully, because there are just as many negatives as there are positives.”
“I mean, you know, there's a joke, but it's true… It's harder to get on Love Island than it is to get into Oxford University. Think about the hundreds of thousands of applicants each year. You're in this genuinely crazy experience. We were in a villa, being filmed by this huge production crew and it was going out to millions of people every single night.”
Dr Alex reveals how he felt "very lost" outside of the villa because he couldn't go back to A&E due to the media buzz around the show.
He said: “When I couldn't physically go back to the hospital and I realised what I could do is use the platform to educate, talk about things I care about.
“I’ve always been passionate about mental health and had a lot of personal struggles with it.
“2018 was the first time I visited 10 Downing Street about mental health. But then everything that happened with the pandemic, then my brother, it's now become my focus. Mental fitness and mental health is what I care about.
“Fast forward a couple of years and the pandemic happened - all of a sudden I was on national television in the morning and evening and radio interviews with Professor Whitty asking me what it’s like in the hospitals and what is covid - I’m thinking ‘this guy is like a professor, like a genius, basically, at the top of public health and he's asking me, a junior doctor, what I'm seeing in the hospital in Southeast London. It was a crazy time, but I guess Love Island was the stepping stone.”
This episode will be available to listen to on all podcast platforms here from the 9th of October.
Season 2 of Show on The Road is also be available to view on video with a new dedicated Show on the Road YouTube channel.