Having experienced his own serious mental health issues following the death of his parents, Tom Bradby says he might have been able to help embattled former BBC host Huw Edwards get through his struggles
ITV’s Tom Bradby believes he could have helped fellow news anchor Huw Edwards through his mental health crisis, having suffered a breakdown himself.
Huw, 62, ended up in hospital last summer with “serious mental health issues” after he was involved in an explicit photos scandal.
Tom, 57, thinks he could have advised him just as he has helped other colleagues. He says. “You think about the world differently once you’ve had a breakdown and spent a lot of time talking about the stresses and strains we place on ourselves.”
Huw would normally be the BBC ’s main election night presenter – Tom’s main opposition – but he has left the corporation. Tom’s 2018 breakdown followed the death of his parents, which triggered his insomnia.
He told Radio Times: “I went from thinking I was OK to being in really significant crisis, very fast. If you don’t sleep at all the night before doing News at Ten, you are terrified you’re not going to be able to sleep again. Then you can’t sleep because you know you must sleep, and you go into crisis.”
Tom, who has worked at ITV for 34 years, says he was helped by a psychiatrist. The dad of three adds: “My life changed completely. I carry very little stress around in my life now and sleep soundly every night.”
He says he was worried about being “top of the tree”, adding the psychiatrist asked why he cared what people thought of him?
Tom adds: “If something doesn’t go well, or people say bad things, I can’t control it. So I don’t worry about it.”
After previously speaking about his breakdown, Tom was sought out by TV journalists needing help. He says: “When you’re in crisis, you don’t know what to do and I suppose people think, he was open about it, and they ask for a chat.” Tom hopes it continues, adding: “After this is printed no doubt, I’ll get a whole bunch more. I find it great. It’s enhanced my life.”
Ahead of next week’s election night, Tom said he tries to copy David Dimbleby, “the best broadcaster in my lifetime”. He added: “For the last 10 years I’ve studied how he does things. He’s completely unflappable.”
As Tom prepares to cover the poll results, he said the ITV newsroom is so diverse he feels like he is in a minority, He added: “There aren’t many white male anchors left, dare I say, so I feel a bit less nervous about that than possibly I should. You just put your head down, do a good job and try to be as nice as you can to everyone around you.”
