Ant McPartlin says ‘the old me doesn’t exist’ as he speaks 10 years after drugs battle

Ant McPartlin says his life is much improved since he became a dad and he is not looking back on the problems of the past

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Ant McPartlin says he is a “better man” than he was 10 years ago after becoming teetotal and beating his drug demons.

The 50-year-old, one half of TV duo Ant and Dec, told how he has matured in recent years since becoming a father. He turned his life around with wife after he was convicted of drink-driving in April 2018 and cancelled TV presenting jobs for the rest of the year. He spent two months in rehab in 2017 after admitting to a painkiller and alcohol addiction.

He said the addiction stemmed from a painful knee operation in 2015. Around this time there were some harsh headlines in the media for Ant and Dec to deal with.

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Looking back Ant said: “I’m reading about this other person who doesn’t exist. That’s not me. And as long as you remember that, and if you’re a good person, you’re still trying to be a good man.

“I’m trying to turn my life around and I’m a better man now than I was 10 years ago. I’m happy with that. So somebody’s opinion piece won’t change my day. But you have to have a real sense of self, yourself. Like you have to really know who you are, which I think is weirdly harder than it sounds.”

Ant and Dec were speaking to friend Fearne Cotton on her Happy Place podcast, as they prepare to launch their own podcast this week. Ant also was full of praise for wife Anne-Marie Corbett who he married in August 2021 and has been with since 2018. They have a son Wilder born in 2024 and are parents to two daughters from Anne-Marie’s relationship with ex-husband Scott Corbett.

On their bond, Ant said: “When me and Anne-Marie first got together, because she had the two girls and they were like 11 and 13 when we met, she was like a sage to me because she just knew it all. “And I was just, I was like a sponge and I just tried to learn everything. And now Wilder’s come along, it’s almost as if, it’s almost as if she’s forgotten everything. It’s quite nice that we’re both starting again.”

Ant aslo confessed he now needs to watch his tongue around his 19-month-old son as he “getting told off a lot for swearing” around the house.

The chat also saw Ant’s TV partner Dec opened up about his silent health battle for the first time. The I’m A Celebrity star revealed that he went to therapy about five or six years ago and found it incredibly beneficial.

The Geordie presenter opened up about his “constant anxiety” and the feeling that he should always be busy doing something as he confessed he “can never sit down”. On the podcast, the pair spoke about fatherhood and how they’ve grown to appreciate their lifelong careers more as they’ve aged.

When asked about his mental health, I’m A Celebrity host Dec admitted: “I struggle a bit with, it’s kind of a low level, constant anxiety about ‘should be doing this’ or ‘I’ve got to be doing… “I never feel I can sit down and just watch telly, I always feel like I should be doing something else. There’s that anxiety that there’s a job that needs to be done somewhere and I should be doing it. “I struggle with that a lot, with trying to calm that voice in the back of your head that’s going, ‘no, you should be using this time more productively’. I went through a period of having therapy about five, five or six years ago. I really got a lot out of it. I really enjoyed it.”

The Geordie duo have helmed countless prime-time entertainment programmes throughout their careers, including Ant And Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, Britain’s Got Talent and Ant And Dec’s Limitless Win.

Dec explained: “When we’re looking at projects, we always look at how can we get the whole family together?”.

“To entertain the whole family is no mean feat, and you’ve got to try and grab each generation and entertain them. It’s entertainment, it’s fun, but we take it incredibly seriously.”

Ant added: “We do the best job in the world. We have a laugh every day. We’ve hosted some turkeys over the years. It hasn’t always been a success. It’s a privilege to be in someone’s living room on a Saturday night hosting a big show.”

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