Singer opens up about loss of his sister
POP singer George Shelley has filmed a candid documentary about his mental health after the death of his sister - saying: “It was like all the lights went off in my head”.
The Union J singer, 25, from Clevedon in North Somerset, lost his younger sister Harriet, who was just 21, in April 2017, when she suffered a severe head injury when she was tragically knocked down in a car accident.
Harriet spent a week in intensive care in Southmead Hospital in Bristol before she died on May 7, 2017.
And in an emotional documentary for the BBC, George admits he still gets flashbacks from the night she was hit, and recalls “not wanting to be George Shelley anymore”.
In the BBC Three documentary ‘ George Shelley: Learning To Grieve’, the singer opens up about how close he and Harriet were growing up, saying they were “more like twins” and “she was my role model”.
Recalling the moment of her death, he said: “It was like someone turned all the lights off in my head. Before Harriet, I had never experienced grief.”
George describes sinking into depression in the weeks after his sis- ter’s death - losing his job, his relationship, and becoming agoraphobic, refusing to leave his room.
He said: “After we lost her, my life went monochrome. I was stagnant. “You think, ‘How do I live?
“How can I do this? I don’t want to do this.’”
But he has admitted that, a couple of months after Harriet’s death, he woke up in time to see the sunrise, and he said: “That morning, I started seeing the colour again.”
George also admitted that he is taking antidepressants, and said: “There is no right way of dealing with this pain. You just need to know there is support out there, and not be afraid to ask for it.”
George’s documentary will be available on BBC Three iPlayer from Sunday, September 30.