Dec: I needed therapy after Ant meltdown

Dec helped after pal’s offence

DECLAN Donnelly has revealed he has been having counselling after Ant McPartlin’s drink-drive car crash.

Ant was given a 20-month driving ban and fined £86,000 for crashing into a car carrying a child in March last year.

Dec considered splitting from his Britain’s Got Talent presenting partner over what he described as an “indefensible” offence – and revealed that his friend’s conviction left him needing therapy.

He said: “It’s the most destabilising thing that has ever happened to me.

“I had some counselling, and

I still do. It helps to talk to somebody independent, who doesn’t watch TV.”

Dec told the Guardian it was not the first time he has sought help, and revealed that he has struggled

“throughout the years”.

The Geordie duo have worked together for almost 30 years. Dec said he wanted to “punch and hug” Ant at the same time when he heard of his arrest.

They are back on the box next Saturday when the ITV talent show returns. Ant cried on stage after he received a huge ovation from the audience at the London Palladium when filming began in January.

In the same interview, Ant told how he is in touch with his estranged dad, who walked out on his family when he was 10.

He reached out to Raymond, 64, a plumber, during his year off work.

Ant, 43, said the reunion, after 32 years, came about as a result of a show the pair are making where they trace their DNA and ancestry.

He said: “My dad and I didn’t speak for a long time, but we’re talking again now, which is great.”

SPLIT FEAR Ant and Dec