‘I really struggled’: SAS Australia’s Dan Ewing reveals he suffered from anxiety after finding fame on Home and Away – and says he used alcohol to cope
Dan Ewing has revealed he struggled with anxiety and would use alcohol to cope with his newfound fame after joining the cast of Home and Away in 2007.
In an interview with the ImperfectlyPerfect Podcast on Monday, the 36-year-old actor admitted he ‘struggled’ after being thrown into the spotlight.
‘I really struggled. I was just some kid from the northern beaches, so then to shoot to fame on the biggest show in Australia in Home and Away… I wasn’t ready,’ he confessed.
Dark times: Dan Ewing has revealed he struggled with anxiety and would use alcohol to cope with his newfound fame after joining the cast of Home and Away. Pictured on the show
‘My partner at the time wasn’t ready, and I didn’t know it at the time, but I was really suffering with anxiety.’
Dan – who appears on this year’s season of SAS Australia – said he turned to alcohol as a coping mechanism for what he was going through.
‘I’d just sort of tip all this grog down my neck and get absolutely written off on the weekend,’ he explained.
Finding fame: In an interview with the ImperfectlyPerfect Podcast on Monday, the 36-year-old actor admitted he ‘struggled’ after being thrown into the spotlight
‘You disguise it as, “Oh, it’s blowing off steam. We all do it,” and we all have done it. But for me, I just didn’t understand that there was a better way, there was a better process…’
Dan admitted it was ‘not conducive to a great relationship or a great marriage or a great lifestyle’, even though he was still ‘kicking goals work-wise’.
‘It was kind of, not hidden, it wasn’t like I was a fully-fledged alcoholic, but I was just getting blind on weekends to subside this anxiety that I just wasn’t ready for,’ he continued.
‘I really struggled. I was just some kid from the northern beaches, so then to shoot to fame on the biggest show in Australia in Home and Away… I wasn’t ready,’ he confessed
Elsewhere in the interview, Dan spoke about his appearance on SAS Australia, where he admitted it was still very much ‘a TV show’, with producers present on set.
He said they would often have to ‘reset’ scenes during many of the show’s gruelling challenges, giving the recruits a much-needed chance to catch their breaths.
‘But the tasks and the discomfort and getting called every name under the sun and the sleep deprivation and all that kind of stuff, that is 110 per cent real,’ he added.
SAS Australia continues Wednesday at 7.30pm on Channel Seven
Get real: Elsewhere in the interview, Dan spoke about his appearance on SAS Australia, where he admitted it was still very much ‘a TV show’, with producers present on set