Ant isn’t the real victim, whatever his celeb pals say
On a chilly afternoon, on the edge of spring, ant McPartlin saw the world as he knew it slip from his grasp. It wasn’t just his car the television star lost control of when he crashed into two oncoming vehicles in West London last Sunday. It was everything else, too: his career, his future, his good standing, the affection and respect of the public.
Some diehard fans still see the troubled McPartlin (pictured below), who has had problems with depression and addiction, as the victim in this sorry saga.
However, the fact that he reportedly drove a car while over the drink- drive limit and nearly ended the lives of an entire family shows a recklessness that will be hard for most to forgive.
You wouldn’t have guessed this from television reports the next day, mind you. It wasn’t long before the Showbiz Pals Battalion (Daytime Telly Company) raised rifles and rushed to ant’s defence. On Monday morning, an empathetic Lorraine Kelly sent her best wishes to McPartlin while discussing the accident on her live ITV show.
She did not mention the family whose three- year- old daughter was taken to hospital, nor extend the same sympathetic courtesies to them. On This Morning later, Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby coped by not Mentioning The Incident at all, an unusual omission for a couple who are usually all over the latest celeb scuttlebutt.
One can only imagine the coverage the incident would have received on their show had it been a star in the car who’d been hit by a drunk-driver, instead of the other way around. Surely we’d never have heard the end of it. Holly’s bottom lip would have been trembling like a snowdrop in a storm, Phillip would have been oscillating with righteous anger.
By the following day, all parties tried to redress the balance, but it was too late. The genie was out of the bottle, the double standard clear for all to see, while the unsavoury y implication remained d that celebrities really do o believe the usual moral l codes do not apply to o celebrities, especially one as valuable to ITV as ant McPartlin.
Many not in the showbiz bubble were furious at the gentle handling of this explosive incident across the entertainment spectrum. More worrying, perhaps, is the pervasive message being sent out by many with a vested interest that somehow none of this is McPartlin’s fault. WHY?
Because he is suffering from depression, you idiots. He needs help, they say. Let’s hope, they chorus, he gets all the help and care he needs at this difficult time.
It would take a harder heart than mine not to wish him well, but I think it is wrong to make mental health and depression generous excuses for crimes. ant has had a difficult time with drugs and alcohol, which are depressants in themselves. no doubt they have kicked him into a spiral of even more depressive behaviour, but he has agency over his situation.
Some users might be more susceptible than others to the trap of addiction, but ant and others like him are not in the grip of an uncontrollable disease that is to blame for all their woes. They are not victims, and it doesn’t help them to be treated as helpless amoeba at the mercy of their own desire. This whole concept con of addiction as a disease dis originated in the U.S. U.S not very long ago, where wh it was classified as such suc so that people could get it covered by their medical me insurance policies. po If it was a disease, went we the reasoning, then th you could get treatment tr for it, and then th you could get that treatment tr paid for.
However, H it is your choice ch as an adult whether w or not you swallow swa the drink and ingest i tth the d drugs that exacerbate your condition. an underlying depression might be the reason why some people self-medicate, but all this does is lock users into a further spiral of depression, making them feel even more miserable.
In nHS facilities, professionals who work in drugs and alcohol services can only properly assess addicts once they have been off drugs or alcohol for three to six months. They have little sympathy for people like ant, whose weakness harms others. and they accept, unlike many in showbusiness, that a lot of people drink and take drugs simply because they really bloody enjoy doing so.
How did ant get to this sad juncture? after all, he is worth more than £60 million and is a national treasure — a man who, along with partner Declan Donnelly, has won 17 national Television awards on the trot. Since the year 2000, he has been a fixed point in the firmament of celebrity; few stars are more loved than he; an entire television station built its prime-time output on the back of his relentless good cheer — well, on screen at least.
Yet there isn’t always a connection between status and happiness. ant’s life seemed golden, touched by privilege and good fortune, but it didn’t seem like that to him.
In australia, James Packer, the billionaire ex-fiance of Mariah Carey, is stepping down from all businesses because of mental health issues.
Money doesn’t buy happiness, but it buy you the best treatment facilities on offer. So off he troops to rehab, the modern public signifier of regret and apology.
He joins the sad parade of stars who have fallen from grace, including wife-beater and serial cheat Ozzy Osbourne and drug aficionados Robbie Williams and Russell Brand. Wayne Rooney was convicted of drink- driving last year after being three times over the limit, while Chris Tarrant and Mel Gibson both managed some kind of comeback after being convicted of the same crime.
Can the same happen to ant McPartlin, this unhappy man-boy trapped in a persistent cheery, cheeky persona upon which an entire brand was hung? Will he ever be forgiven for this dangerous and irresponsible act? I hope so. But he and his friends have to acknowledge his guilt and responsibility first. Picture: PETER SUMMERS