The McFly singer has opened up about some seriously personal stuff...
Harry Judd has officially released his own book, Get Fit, Get Happy, having suffered with anxiety, paranoia and OCD during his days in the band McFly, all because of an addiction to smoking marijuana.
The winner of Strictly Come Dancing opened up to The Sun about his addiction: ‘Sure, being out there with the band was a blast… But even when I was playing to thousands and lapping up the adulation of the fans, it always felt good returning to the band house so I could roll up and spark up. To me, it became a part of life. I became a full-on, bona fide stoner for two years.’
He even admitted that, despite his manager begging him to quit the habit, he didn’t listen, revealing it ‘was the worst mistake of my life’ as the anxiety and paranoia became too much to bear.
McFly consisted of (from left) Dougie Poynter, Tom Fletcher, Harry Judd and Danny Jones
Harry also confessed that the addiction completely took over his life and outshone everything else – even the worldwide success of his band didn’t come close as he revealed he ‘couldn’t function without it’ and turned into a ‘panic-stricken mess’ at the Brit Awards in 2005.
This caused the drummer to seek help from The Priory rehabilitation centre when he was smoking six joints a day.
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Now, the father-of-two has turned his life around and credits fitness for a lot of it: ‘Exercise has helped me turn my life around… It was my go-to weapon in the battle to stop smoking. It helped fill the gap left when I stopped drinking alcohol. And it massively improved my ability to do my job as a musician. The more active I am, the less I find myself in the grip of these strange compulsions.’
Harry and Izzy have two children together
‘We all know we should exercise, but so many of us don’t,’ he added. ‘I totally get why. I want to change the way people think about exercise, because when it comes to treating everything from anxiety to panic attacks to depression, a little regular exercise can go a very long way to helping us.’
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Harry also appeared on BBC Breakfast this morning (10 October) to discuss the topic for World Mental Health Day.
‘So proud to have the opportunity today on #WorldMentalHealth Day to talk about my own mental health issues and how I’ve dealt with them,’ he shared with his Instagram followers. ‘Talking and sharing is SO important to destroying the stigma of mental health so that people feel empowered to seek out help and find their own way of dealing with their challenges. For me, exercise is the key to keeping myself feeling balanced, in control and happy, which is why I called my book #GetFitGetHappy’
Well done to Harry for speaking up about this important issue. There’s never been a better reason to get down the gym!
The post McFly’s Harry Judd Opens Up About Battling His Drug Addiction appeared first on Look Magazine.