Star recalls overdose in wake of marriage split
SINGER Alfie Boe has revealed that he took an overdose after losing his idyllic family life in the Cotswolds.
The star has spoken for the first time about how he suffered depression after splitting from his wife Sarah nearly two years ago and putting their £2.5 million house on the market.
Alfie lived near Chalford near Stroud with Sarah and their two children Grace and Alfred until the shock split.
Giving designer Kelly Hoppen a video tour of their stunning 18th century country house he had previously spoken about the work he wanted to carry out to make it their forever home.
But after spending the first lockdown in Gloucestershire, the couple suddenly announced they were splitting in August 2020, and Shakesperean actress Sarah moved back home to America with the children. Their statement said he had been travelling for work a lot.
Alfie did not speak about it at the time and threw himself into trying to save theatres during the outbreak and working with singing partner Michael Ball.
But now he has told programmemakers that he actually plunged into a deep depression and went to a
I ended up in a rehabilitation facility for about five weeks and it was a scary time ALFIE BOE
‘really dark place’ following the split with Sarah.
The pair first met in 2002 after landing the lead role in Baz Luhrmann’s revival of Puccini’s La Boheme in San Francisco.
The singer, 48, tells next week’s episode of BBC reality show Freeze the Fear with Wim Hof that he took an overdose and spent five weeks in rehab.
Holding back tears the West End star said he wanted to speak about it in a bid to help others and admitted that he was still struggling to come to terms with it.
According to the Mirror, he said: “When my – separation happened initially I went into a really dark place. It’s weird to talk about, I’ve not spoken about this in public, but I’m willing to, if it can help anyone out there that needs that.
“I’d gone through beating myself up and hating myself and not having any love for myself and it resulted in a foolish act of throwing some pills down my throat because I’d lost my way.
“I ended up in a rehabilitation facility for about five weeks and it was a scary time.”
Confirming the split at the time,
Alfie said in a statement: “I have nothing but love and respect for Sarah who’s been an incredible partner and an amazing mother to our two beautiful children and everything is very amicable.”
Alfie said they are still friends but added that it is “not the same” as he admitted that he still misses Sarah and said the split still feels “raw” two years on.
They married two years after meeting and Alfie, who had also lived near Stow-on-the-Wold, later moved to Stroud. Alfie, who was a car mechanic until somebody heard him singing, once said that watching his children grow up at home in the Cotswolds was his idea of happiness.
After the split he told website Gloucestershire Live that his children would be spending Christmas abroad with Sarah and their maternal family while he stayed in London. He was due to perform his iconic role of Jean Valjean in Les Miserables to mark the re-opening of London’s West End on December 5 but then came another lockdown.
Resigned to pulling a Christmas cracker on his own and seeing his children on Zoom, he said he had good memories of spending Christmas in the Cotswolds with his family.
He said: “I remember dragging a Christmas tree up the driveway into the house and trying to find the tallest room to put it in because it was a big old tree. I have some lovely memories. It’s all about the children with me and their celebrations and it’s lovely.”
Freeze the Fear airs on BBC One at 9pm on Tuesdays and is available on BBC iPlayer.