Ant: My 5am drugs binge
ANT SPEAKS ABOUT PAIN AFTER LEAVING REHAB
ANT McPartlin has revealed that his secret addiction to super-strong painkillers almost killed him as he opened up after leaving rehab.
The Geordie presenter checked into rehab in June after tearfully confessing his struggle with drink and prescription drugs to wife Lisa Armstrong and TV partner Declan Donnelly.
The I’m a Celebrity host has now left the treatment facility and has revealed how an “insane” pills binge saw him rushed to hospital.
Ant said he begged Lisa to call him an ambulance after bingeing on tramadol, morphine and alcohol as he recovered from a second knee operation in June.
Multimillionaire Ant, 41, one of the biggest names in telly, wept as he revealed the crisis to his wife Lisa and co-star Dec, also 41.
He explained how he had been hiding pills in different places to avoid his addiction being discovered, before a conversation with Lisa and Dec got him on the road to recovery.
In an interview with The Sun on Sunday, Ant said: “I was at the point where anything — prescription drugs, nonprescription drugs — I would take.
“And take them with alcohol, which is ridiculous. The doctors told me, ‘You could have killed yourself.’”
Describing the time he was left “screaming in pain”, Ant recalled: “It was five in the morning and I was screaming in pain so I rang Lisa.
“She was upstairs because I was living in the living room because I couldn’t get around.
“I said, ‘You’re going to have to call me an ambulance. I’m in a bad way.’
“I was insane. It sends you crazy. It was to the point of hearing things, seeing things in the garden and still the pain was getting worse.
The ambulance came and took me to Chelsea and Westminster.
“I was depressed through the whole thing because I was in pain and immobile.”
Ant developed a painkiller addiction after taking pills for chronic knee pain.
Following two months of rehab, the Britain’s Got Talent presenter is clean of all drugs other than paracetamol for the first time since 2014.
Speaking before he entered rehab, Ant said: “The first step is to admit to yourself you need help.
“I’ve let people down. I’m truly sorry.
“I feel like I have let a lot of people down and for that I’m truly sorry.
“I want to thank my wife, family and closest friends through this really difficult time.
He added: “I have spoken out because I think it is important that people ask for help if they are going through a rough time and get the proper treatment to help their recovery.”
Since then his pals and work colleagues, including Simon Cowell, have showed their support for Ant, and have said that he is winning his drink and drugs battle.
I think it is important that people ask for help if they are going through a rough time Ant McPartlin