Great British Menu's Andi Oliver 'wanted to die' after brother's death amid life-threatening illness
22.03.2024 - 16:05
/ ok.co.uk
Great British Menu star and TV presenter Andi Oliver admitted she "wanted to die" following the tragic death of her brother. Her brother, Sean, died in 1990 at the age of just 27 of sickle cell anaemia.
The chef – whose daughter is fellow TV presenter Miquita Oliver – has been open about a "nervous breakdown" she had following the loss of her sibling, after battling an eating disorder. Speaking to Saga magazine about the period of time in 2023, Andi said: "I was dangerously ill, sitting in the dark, crying, wanting to die, not being able to stop myself eating.
I was in a scary place for some time. "So much shame goes hand-in-hand with an eating disorder, with addiction of any kind. "It’s very lonely because you don’t know how to talk to anybody.
I didn’t know I had an eating disorder, I just thought I was disgusting. "Whenever I talk about it now I am still inundated with people saying, 'I thought it was just me'," she continued. It was on Loose Women star Kaye Adams' podcast How To Be 60 in October that Andi said she believed her brother's death was the "final straw" that lead to her breakdown.
She said: "My brother died when I was about 25 and, after that, I developed a really very serious eating disorder and got really, really ill. I think it was the final straw. "Losing him was the final straw and I kind of went under.
But going under is the thing that really saved my life because having a nervous breakdown is your body, your mind, and your survivalist, doing you a favour. "Because if I hadn't had the nervous breakdown, I would've still had a white-knuckled grip trying to hold on and make out that everything was okay when it really, really, really wasn't. "Having a nervous breakdown meant that I could admit to someone
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