A man's heartfelt message encouraging people to "be kind" to others following TV star Ant McPartlin's arrest has gone viral. The 42-year-old presenter was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving after he was involved in a three-vehicle car crash last weekend. In the wake of the incident, fan Eddie Murphy shared a post on Facebook about Ant's struggles - which, to date, has been shared 32,000 times.
Ant McPartlin was charged with drink-driving earlier this week
Eddie wrote: "The news about Ant McPartlin’s battles with depression, crippling pain, alcohol and prescription drug addiction will have come as a shock to millions. He always seems so happy and full of life as one half of our nation’s favourite TV duo. But it should be a reminder to all of us that, no matter how happy people look, everybody is fighting a battle… we never really know just what our friends, neighbours, colleagues and loved ones are going through." Following the collision, Ant failed a breathalyser test and was arrested.
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The post concluded: "Sometimes the people who seem the happiest of all, like Ant, are the ones hiding the deepest pain. Their smiles are a way to cover up everything that they are going through. As well as thinking about Ant, please take some time to look after those closest to you and see if they need your support. You never know what someone is going through." On Monday, Ant's spokesperson confirmed that he would be going back to rehab. A statement read: "Ant has decided to go back into treatment and step down from his current TV commitments. He has spoken with Dec and ITV today and asked for time off for the foreseeable future."
Meanwhile, Ant's co-host Declan Donnelly revealed that the last two episodes of Saturday Night Takeaway will still go ahead as planned. "Whilst I never thought I'd be in this position, after much discussion and careful consideration we've decided that the remaining two shows of this series of Saturday Night Takeaway will go ahead," he wrote on Instagram, adding: "We made a promise to take hundreds of deserving winners to Florida to watch the series finale, and we will honour that. Everyone at ITV and the Takeaway team feels we owe it to the audience to complete the series. Dec x."
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