Love Island star Mike Thalassitis sadly died by suicide earlier this month after his body was found hanged in a North London park.
And now his fellow Islander Jack Fincham has spoken out about his own mental health following the tragic news of his friend’s passing.
When chatting to British GQ magazine, the star revealed that he has been battling both anxiety and depression since he was 13-years-old, and confessed to thinking he was going ‘mad’ when first hit with the symptoms.
In the candid interview, the 27-year-old revealed he used to take the antidepressant citalopram as well as the beta blocker propranolol for his anxiety.
‘It came sort of out of nowhere and I told my mum and stuff and got signed off from work with it,’ the star told the publication.
‘I was just scared to go out of the house. I was worried about things that weren’t happening. I thought I was going mad.’
Jack, who is currently dating the Love Island queen Dani Dyer, started having mental health issues in his early teens, which saw him seek help through the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) therapy.
He has later tried cognitive behavioural therapy in order to help him come off his medication.
The islander said: ‘At the start I didn’t want to go to the doctors, I was just crying to my mum. I thought if I said it out loud to a doctor then it would make it real.
‘I didn’t want to believe that this was happening to me – or why it was happening to me.’
Since appearing on the ITV hit show, Jack has experienced online trolling, where people have thrown abuse at him over the way he looks.
However, he went on to say he’s learned to deal with the ‘nasty’ words, and now takes them with a pinch of salt.
‘Just because you’ve been on TV, doesn’t mean you’ve become bulletproof,’ he insisted.
His candid confession comes just weeks after Mike Thalassitis’ death.
At the time of his death, a Mets spokesperson told Metro.co.uk said: ‘Police were called to a park near Latymer Way, N9 at 09:28hrs on Saturday, 16 March to reports of a man found hanged.
‘Officers and the London Ambulance Service attended and found a man, aged in his 20s, deceased.
‘At this early stage, the death is not being treated as suspicious.
‘Police are in the process of informing the man’s next of kin. A file will be prepared for the coroner.’
Since then a number of his friends have paid tribute, including fellow islander Chris Hughes who took a moment to defend him over his ‘muggy’ nickname.
‘His name wasn’t Muggy Mike. Please stop brandishing that,’ he tweeted.
‘His name was Mike Thalassitis, and every inch of my heart goes out to his family & friends. A good guy, taken far, far to soon.’
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