Kem has bravely spoken out about suffering crippling anxiety as a child...
From watching Kem Cetinay on ITV2’s Love Island this summer, you’d like you were unlikely to meet a more confident, hilarious, larger-than-life character.
But Kem – who went on to win the show with girlfriend Amber Davies – has recently opened up about having suffered with his mental health when he was young.
Chatting to The Sunday Times Style magazine, the 21-year-old barber from Essex admitted that his anxiety caused him to leave school: ‘Anxiety can be a dark path if you don’t handle it well, I’ve seen it first hand… I was taken out of school when I was 13, in year 9.’
Kem met girlfriend Amber on Love Island this summer
The reality TV star continued: ‘People don’t know I didn’t finish school, that I was a different person to how I am now… I basically had therapy seven days a week for like, three years.’
See: Frankie Bridge Opens Up About Battling Anxiety And How Freddie Flintoff Helped Her Through It
If you missed Kem’s rise to fame on the ITV2 dating show, you wouldn’t know that not only did Kem meet the love of his life on Love Island, but also his soulmate and best friend in the form of Chris Hughes.
Yep, the two’s bromance was the stuff of legends and won over more hearts across the nation than any of the actual couples…
And Chris has also spoken out about having battled anxiety in the past, confessing that he eventually turned to his mum for guidance as the illness continued to escalate.
More: Love Island’s Kem Says He And Amber Aren’t The ‘Perfect Couple’
On World Mental Health Day, Chris – who came third on the show with girlfriend Olivia Attwood – shared a post that detailed what he had been suffering with: ‘I had a hypnotherapist. I had loads of sessions with him, which really sorted it out,’ he began.
‘It was at a time where I just feeling anxious, you know, I used to get it when I left work. I’d do a 9-5 job and when it got to like 4:30-5, I would start to feel anxious and I didn’t want to go home from work, which was really weird,’ Chris continued. ‘Every time I got home, I just felt like s**t.’
The post Love Island Winner Kem Cetinay Opens Up About Battling Anxiety appeared first on Look Magazine.