Jeremy Kyle revealed he ‘couldn’t get out of bed’ and was on antidepressants after his show was axed following a guest’s suicide in 2019.
The presenter, 59, made his return to ITV after six years on Tuesday night, as he appeared on Kate Garraway’s Life Stories.
In his first TV interview in the aftermath of the Jeremy Kyle show’s cancellation, he recalled: ‘I couldn’t get out of bed, I had no motivation. Vicky [his wife] was amazing. I went to a doctor, she dragged me.
‘He put me on some pills for a while, antidepressants, but that’s part of life. A man had died.’
He added that he had ‘amazing friends and an amazing wife’ who supported him through the difficult period.
Jeremy’s wife Vicky admitted: ‘It was a hard time, we had a lot of press outside our house. I had to kick him out of bed and to the doctors to get a bit of help’.
Jeremy Kyle revealed he ‘couldn’t get out of bed’ and was on antidepressants after his show was axed following a guest’s suicide in 2019
The presenter, 59, made his return to ITV after six years on Tuesday night, as he appeared on Kate Garraway ‘s Life Stories
Known for its confrontational style, the Jeremy Kyle show featured guests resolving personal conflicts, often through lie detector tests and heated arguments.
In September, a coroner ruled there was ‘no causal link’ between the appearance of a guest on his show and his death – a moment which Jeremy revealed led him to break down in tears.
Ex-RNLI volunteer Steve Dymond went on The Jeremy Kyle Show on May 2, 2019, to try to prove to his on-off partner Jane Callaghan, then 48, that he did not cheat on her.
The 63-year-old, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, failed a lie detector test and was found dead seven days later in the £100-a-week room he rented, having overdosed on morphine.
The show was cancelled after the incident and the backlash led to tighter rules within the TV industry and revised welfare measures, particularly in reality series.
In his interview with Kate, Jeremy said: ‘My thoughts were always first and foremost for Steve Dymond. To get to a point where you would do that must be terrible, and for his family, but it was so frustrating Kate because for five years I couldn’t say anything for legal reasons.
‘I wasn’t able to say anything and I thought about the people who lost their jobs over night, lost their mortgages, lost their livelihoods.
‘The first thing I thought about was how dreadful it must be for anybody to get to that point.
‘You have to feel for his family as well and then this process got dragged out. The family needed the truth and we needed the truth to be out.’
In his first TV interview in the aftermath of the Jeremy Kyle show’s cancellation, he recalled: ‘I couldn’t get out of bed, I had no motivation. I went to a doctor’
He added that he had ‘amazing friends and an amazing wife’ who supported him through the difficult period
Known for its confrontational style, the Jeremy Kyle show featured guests resolving personal conflicts, often through lie detector tests and heated arguments
‘It was snowballing and it became massive. It became a news story and the frustration was that you’re sat there and you couldn’t say anything which was really difficult.’
He continued: ‘I get it, I understand entirely that the Kyle show had to fall as a result of it. I completely get the people who were critics of the show, the ‘He had it coming!’ ‘Gobby!’ whatever.
‘ I get that, it’s fine, I accept that with no bitterness, no anger. You find out who you’re friends are.
‘It makes you realise how inconsistent and how something can go instantly and how you can be the king of the castle one day and the next day, you’re not allowed on the castle grounds.’
However, despite it all Jeremy revealed he is ‘proud’ of the show when he looks back at it.
It ran for 14 years, with over 3,300 episodes and viewing figures of up to one million per episode.
He told Kate: ‘I am proud of the people that we helped, the people who found out about their parents, those who went to detox and rehab. I spent five years not able to say that I’m proud of what it was.’
Jeremy concluded: ‘What happened to me and the show made me realise who my friends were, reevaluate that there are two lives home and work, and maybe they got moulded together. I’m just gonna crack on with my life, I’m 60 this year.’
In May 2019, the programme was abruptly pulled off air following the death of Steve Dymond (seen), who took his own life a week after failing a lie detector test about his faithfulness to his partner
The coroner noted that although Jeremy could be ‘quite critical,’ there was ‘insufficient evidence’ that his comments ‘contributed to Mr Dymond’s distress’ (pictured on show with his partner Jane Callaghan)
In his interview with Kate, Jeremy said: ‘My thoughts were always first and foremost for Steve Dymond’
Elsewhere in the interview, he talked about how his controversial show often left the nation divided.
Discussing his honest attitude with guests, he explained: ‘Half would say that’s what they needed, others would say it’s a bit judgemental isn’t it.
‘Mine would be that’s what it is, we didn’t fabricate it. I spent a long time thinking I should apologise for it but it helped a lot of people.
‘In terms of what it was, I think we’d be wrong as an audience to turn our noses down at it, it was very successful.’
He also admitted he got ‘caught up in the success’ and ‘always went home and was completely different’.
He said: ‘The core values of what my family had taught me were absolutely fundamental to the Jeremy Kyle show but I would never be that combative or direct in real life. It was a character to be fair.’
Jeremy added: ‘The show was a show and that was a sign of those times but times change don’t they.’
In the interview, Jeremy also recalled how he broke down crying into the arms of a doctor during his battle with testicular cancer in 2012.
He added: ‘I completely get the people who were critics of the show. I get that, it’s fine, I accept that with no bitterness, no anger. You find out who you’re friends are’
JIn the interview, Jeremy also recalled how he broke down crying into the arms of a doctor during his battle with testicular cancer in 2012
After cancelling his first appointment with a doctor, Jeremy was later diagnosed with testicular cancer just before Christmas in 2012, undergoing surgery the following day to remove one of his testicles.
Becoming visibly emotional, he recalled how he had cried in a doctor’s arms at the hospital ahead of going under the knife.
He said: ‘I got to the hospital and I was on my own. I remember walking down this corridor and this huge bloke opened the door.
‘He was an anaesthetist, he was about 11ft tall. I collapsed into his arms and started crying. I remember thinking, ‘I’m dead’.’
Jeremy explained how he panicked after waking up and was comforted by a kind nurse, before having to wait to discover if his cancer had spread.
He said: ‘I remember waking up to this amazing nurse, who stayed with me all night and held my hand. I was terrified. I thought if she went out of the door and the light went out, that was it. I thought I was dead.’
Fortunately, the doctors informed him they had narrowly removed the cancer just before it spread, with the daytime TV host admitting: ‘I was very lucky.’
After going through several rounds of chemotherapy, Jeremy was thankfully later given the all-clear.
For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details
