Spencer Matthews: Anger at death of my brother on Everest drove me to drink
HE was the ‘ bad boy’ of Made in Chelsea, known for his love of partying to excess in the high-end nightclubs of west London.
But behind the bravado, Spencer Matthews has revealed a secret pain and anger at losing his mountaineer brother at the age of ten that drove him to start abusing alcohol from a young age.
In an emotional interview on the Mail’s brand-new Everything I Know About Me podcast, the reality star says that for years he struggled over the death of older sibling Michael, who disappeared on the slopes of Mount Everest 25 years ago, believing the tragedy could have been avoided.
Matthews, 35, who appeared in Made in Chelsea from 2011 to 2015, said: ‘I harboured a lot of anger for many years and terribly ill feelings for the people who I believed had made mistakes that led to my brother’s death. That’s how I felt growing up and I would get drunk and I would talk about it and blow off steam by getting really angry about it from time to time.
‘It was a strange time in my life. I drank to excess often, at a very young age.’
The star – who has three young children with his wife, Irish model and media personality Vogue Williams – finally sought therapy for his problem drinking in 2018 and has been teetotal ever since.
But, reflecting on that time in his life during the podcast, the father of three says he still feels uncomfortable blaming his ‘ childhood trauma’ for his drinking and is keen to take responsibility for his actions – not wanting anyone to feel sorry for him.
He said: ‘I have sought help for my alcoholism and what keeps coming back is this trauma suffered as a child. I don’t like this idea that something happened to me and therefore I became a certain way.
‘I’ve always been uncomfortable when I’ve had therapy and I’m asked what were your parents like? And I’m like, my parents are great, leave them alone. I hate placing blame on circumstances outside of my control for my alcohol abuse. I’ve always been uncomfortable with that.
‘My decision to abuse alcohol for many years was my decision and I was conscious at the time of doing it.’
Matthews’s brother Michael, an experienced climber, became the youngest Briton to reach the summit of Everest in 1999 at the age of 23 but fell to his death while descending the mountain alone in a 100mph blizzard.
The family’s attempt to bring a case of manslaughter against three Everest guides in charge of the expedition for negligence, arguing there had been a coverup over Michael’s death, was rejected in 2006.
Last year Matthews presented Finding Michael, a documentary about his brother’s ill-fated climb, added: ‘I can tell you how it made me feel, I grew up believing throughout all my teenage years that Mike had been killed by somebody making mistakes.
‘These particular people have made mistakes that led to my brother’s death.’
The Mail’s newest podcast, Everything I Know About Me, explores the lives of some of our most fascinating public figures – the highs, the lows and the in-betweens told in their own words.
‘Grew up believing he had been killed’