Rylan Clark spoke openly to Matt Willis on his On The Mend podcast about how his split from ex-husband Dan Neal impacted him.
Sharing how the 2021 split wreaked havoc with his health, Rylan explained: "My marriage breakdown had more of an impact on me than I ever would have thought."
Speaking candidly, Rylan shared that he had a mental breakdown after the end of his relationship, sharing: "The breakdown came out of nowhere. It all boiled down to one morning. My marriage ended and I didn't know it would end. I thought it was salvageable. All of a sudden I couldn't fix something and it confused me.
© Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock"I can't remember what made me disappear from the person I knew. I couldn't see, hear, eat, breathe, sleep, I couldn't do anything," Rylan said, before revealing his beloved mum Linda was worried he was having a stroke.
"I got very ill, to the point I was nine stone, my speech went for two weeks, I couldn't speak properly, it was like I was having a stroke, my mum thought I was having a stroke.
READ: Rylan Clark reveals 'extremely traumatic' divorce nearly killed him
"I got into a dark hole where I thought I was crazy because nothing made sense to me. It was partly upset and heartbreak. I couldn't dress, I couldn't eat."
Speaking about taking time off from his career, Rylan explained that his radio show was the first job he went back to after four or five months, sharing that his time off wasn't through choice. "It was being ill," that made him take a break, he said. "I had to go back, I don’t have days off, let alone months off, and that time away from my job, I knew the only way to get back on the horse was to jump on."
© Ken McKay/ITV/ShutterstockRylan shared he became a heavy drinker following his marriage breakdown, calling his drinking "medicinal."
"I'd make my mum buy a 24-pack of Foster's cans, and I'd long for the drink, because the more I drank, the more the pain was numbed. It actually worked. I wanted it to work and I wanted an out.
"I shouldn't have been drinking because I was on medication, but all I wanted was something to soothe the pain," Rylan said.
Rylan also spoke emotionally about his mum Linda's Crohn's disease, sharing it was the one time he would rather have not been recognised by a fan.
"There was one night we thought we were about to lose her, so I rushed to the hospital at 2 am," going on to explain someone had recognised him in the lift. "I took the selfie [with them] thinking 'am I going to get to the ward and my mum is dead?'"
© Photo: RexLuckily Linda pulled through, and Rylan is working hard on his mental health following his breakdown.
"I've become really comfortable with myself, I know what I like and what I don't like," Rylan concluded, sharing that he's in a better place now.
