Heston Blumenthal opens up on two-month hospital stay and hallucinations in shocking health ordeal: ‘Came crashing down’
Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal has opened up on a shocking health ordeal that saw him hospitalised for two months.
Speaking on GB News, Blumenthal, 58, said he experienced hallucinations and suffered suicidal thoughts.
The cooking pioneer was diagnosed with bipolar shortly after being admitted to hospital and is now taking on a front-and-centre role with a major charity associated with the disease.
He told Nana Akua and Ben Leo: “I ended up being hospitalised and I ended up being diagnosed with it within a few days of being in hospital.
“I was in hospital for two months and I came out around 13 months ago. I realised that there are people who aren’t as lucky as me who have a platform to talk about it and deal with the stigma.”
Describing how bipolar manifested itself in him, he said: “Before the diagnosis, there were many things.
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“I thought the TV was talking to me and I was hallucinating stuff. I had suicidal thoughts. The upside is the grandiosities.
“It’s somewhere between Superman and Jesus Christ, you think of saving the world and loving everybody, and then it all comes crashing down.
“I thought everything was normal. It’s only now that I have come out of the other side and I can look back and see some character traits.
“My patience levels were almost non-existent. I’m a lot more patient now. I was talking very quickly. It’s not just the effect on myself, it’s the effect on people around me and loved ones.”
Simon Kitchen from Bipolar UK urged GB News viewers to head to their website to teach themselves the key symptoms of the disease.
According to the charity, the mental health condition is an episodic disorder which causes drastic changes in mood and energy.
They say it has the highest risk of suicide of any mental health condition.
It is estimated at least 500,000 people in the UK are undiagnosed.
The charity also says more than one million adults in the UK have the disorder, about 30 per cent more than the number of people with dementia.