The OG Big Brother presenter, Rylan Clark, one of UK's richest TV stars, has often been open and vulnerable about himself. After Big Brother returned last year, he struggled to deal with not being the face of it. It was later revealed that he had been approached for ITV’s I’m A Celeb, but he ended up turning it down as well.
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This comes after Rylan had to rebuild himself after the devastating split from his ex-husband Dan Neal. The two met in 2013 while Rylan was hosting Big Brother and Dan was a contestant on the show.
Rylan Clark opens up about the aftermath of his split from Dan Neal
The two got married in 2015 and were together up until 2021 - when Rylan confessed to cheating on Dan. When Dan left Rylan, the TV presenter went into a complete mental breakdown. According to Yahoo!, the 35-year-old stopped working for 4 to 5 months after the split. He took a four-month break from his BBC Radio 2, cancelled all his work commitments and even stepped out of hosting Eurovision.
It wasn’t until January 2023 that Rylan revealed the real reason behind it. Reflecting on the difficult period of his life, the broadcaster candidly shared on the High Performance podcast that he tried to take his own life twice. He explained that while his mental health was impacted due to the split, it was also the state of his personal life and his non-stop work for nine years that took a toll on him. He said:
I think my marriage ending was the catalyst for the machine stopping.
But actually, it was nine years of never stopping and never having time to breathe and actually understand what happened to me. For five months I just stopped and shut down. I tried to take my own life. I tried to do it twice.
In a more recent confession, in June 2024, Rylan added that he lost his vision and was unable to speak after the split, according to OK! Magazine. He told Jamie Laing on his Great Company podcast:
I lost my speech. I lost my vision for a little bit like it was all really just ... it was like having a really bad stroke. It was just so bizarre. And yeah, it took me months to go back to work.
Rylan added that he was living with his mother at that time because he couldn’t be trusted alone by himself. He also turned to his telly mum and dad Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford - who recently parted ways - for help.
What happened between Rylan Clark and his ex-husband Dan Neal?
Rylan and Dan split after six years of marriage and two years of dating each other. In his memoir, Ten: The Decade That Changed My Future, Rylan reveals that he cheated on Dan. Interestingly, the cheating didn’t take place in the year they split (2021) but it happened ‘years ago.’
In 2021, Rylan decided to tell his now-ex that he had cheated on him years ago. Dan, who was an ex-Metropolitan Police detective, took the news hard and left him, reports MailOnline. Rylan wrote in his book:
He left. Told me it was over and that was that. You're not surprised? I get that. But I couldn't believe it.
The pair attempted to work on their relationship but Dan ultimately left again just after two weeks. The aftermath saw Rylan crippling due to his mental breakdown and trying to take his own life.
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Sources Used
Yahoo!: Rylan Clark: ‘I tried to take my own life twice after marriage split’
OK! Magazine: Rylan Clark left blind and unable to speak after suffering devastating symptoms following breakdown
Daily Mail: Who is Rylan Clark's ex Dan Neal and how did their marriage end?
