Well wishes to scandal-hit Huw
AS YOU read this, Huw Edwards is a hospital inpatient being treated for “serious mental health issues”. The question only he and his doctors can answer is the chicken-and-egg conundrum: which came first, the alleged behaviour that has shredded the 61-year-old newsreader’s reputation – was that in itself a symptom of some kind of breakdown – or are his current mental health problems a consequence of such alleged behaviour coming to light?
These are genuinely knotty questions to ponder this weekend as we survey the smoking ruins of a man’s career, let alone his health.
Some ask if his private life is any of our business. It’s a fair question. But the complicating factor here is that so many people who have never met Huw Edwards are likely to nevertheless feel that they “know” him.
This gives them a sense of ownership and involvement: a stake in the story, as it were.After all, this is the man they have invited into their living rooms for almost three straight decades, trusting him to bring them the good news and the bad (usually bad) and explain it to them, interpret it, even sometimes (though very rarely with Huw) joke about it.
Now this paragon of calm, unflappable authority stands accused of behaviour that has profoundly shocked many.
Let’s just summarise what has happened.The story broke in the Sun with the allegation that Edwards paid tens of thousands of pounds over three years to a teenager – 17 at the outset – in exchange for sexually explicit photos.The young person’s parents say the individual developed a crack cocaine habit as a result.The young person, via expensive solicitors, denies everything.
The BBC itself then broke news of a second young person who showed BBC News “expletive-filled messages” allegedly sent by the “bullying” broadcaster after they hooked up on a dating app. Edwards is alleged to have been furious when the individual threatened to “out” him online. Next came the Sun’s accusation that the newsreader broke Covid lockdown guidance to meet a third young person.A fourth – 17 at the time – accuses Huw of sending “creepy” loveheart emojis and kisses. They told the Sun: “It seems creepy now because he was messaging me while I was still at school.”
Finally, BBC Newsnight reported Edwards sent “suggestive” messages to BBC employees. Radio 4 described them as “yet more allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards BBC employees past and present”.
Quite some allegations, wherever the exact truth may lie. But the question stands: if these accusations are broadly true, were such reckless and ill-judged actions the symptoms and the result of an existing mental crisis, or is Huw Edwards’ current mental collapse the consequence of those actions and the soul-shrivening humiliation of public discovery?
Perhaps it’s both. In which case, I feel deeply sorry for such a troubled soul. I wish him a speedy and complete recovery.