In pain: Ant struggles on crutches
He has been through eight long weeks of rehab for his drug addictions. Cloistered in an exclusive clinic in Central London — a stint costing about £50,000 — he has endured intense psychoanalysis in a bid to help him kick his habit.
He says it’s worked. Last weekend, Ant McPartlin smiled for the cameras, giving an extensive interview saying he was clean, sober — and ready to get back to work.
You might imagine that at such a crux, his wife of 11 years, Lisa, would be firmly at his side, ready to support him through this next, fragile stage of his life.
Well, not exactly. Ant himself has admitted that his mother, Christine, has moved into his house in Chiswick, West London, to look after him — while Lisa, a successful make-up artist for Strictly Come Dancing, is back doing long hours on set for the ‘pre-filming’ of the new series.
One can’t help but wonder why — especially considering the fact that Strictly does not start until autumn — she hasn’t chosen to remain at home at this critical moment. Surely, you might think, her bosses would understand if she wanted to take time off to be with her troubled husband.
For make no mistake, Ant may be out of rehab, but he’s very much still in recovery.
After what he calls two years of hell following a knee injury, during which he became addicted to Tramadol and morphine, washed down with alcohol — he says that he had been ‘necking’ pills ‘to the point of psychosis’ — Ant now faces a battle to get his life back on track.
His health, thankfully, appears to be on the mend. His career, too, seems certain to be unaffected, thanks to his many millions of fans who adore his cheeky-chappy persona and repartee with onscreen co-presenter and best friend Declan Donnelly.
Indeed, it’s likely that he’ll be even more loved by viewers after the honesty he has shown about his drug problem.
But he seems uncertain whether or not his marriage will endure. It is perhaps even more surprising that Lisa has chosen to go back to work when you consider that they have been apart throughout his entire stay in rehab. Due to strict rules laid down by the clinic, she did not see him for the duration of his eight-week stay. Phone calls were only permitted after the first month.
Anthony McParlin and Lisa Armstrong after their wedding at St.Nicholas Church in Taplow, Buckinghamshire
And instead of being tucked up in the marital home, on Monday night, for instance, Ant was 300 miles away in Newcastle, spending time with his mother Christine and sister Sarha in the smart suburb of Fenham.
He cut a conspicuous figure in his Range Rover on the neat road where mother and daughter live in neighbouring semi-detached houses.
ANT spent several hours there, before leaving again, looking solemn with his knee in a brace. Of his wife, there was no sign.
‘He is far too private to share what is going on, but it’s not looking good,’ said one in their social circle. ‘I was surprised that he didn’t come out of rehab and go away with Lisa for a holiday somewhere private.’
And Ant himself glumly conceded in his interview with the Sun on Sunday there is no guarantee the marriage will survive.
‘Time will tell,’ he said, adding: ‘It’s very personal, isn’t it?’
There were problems before he went into the clinic, with Ant admitting strains caused by their attempts to start a family.
He said: ‘I would just say it’s a very private matter. We’ve struggled. Like a lot of couples do. It’s very personal.’
Time is now, very sadly, against them in their attempts to conceive, as Ant is 41 and Lisa, 40.
Other issues have also conspired to drive a wedge between the couple. Lisa’s propensity for snoring and Ant’s insomnia, followed by his immobility due to his knee problems which started with a torn meniscus in 2014, have meant the couple have had separate bedrooms. While Ant was living downstairs in the house, combining opioids with alcohol, his wife would sleep upstairs.
He was, by his own account, on his own, in pain, and depressed.
Lisa McPartlin spotted at Heathrow Airport in London after Anthony McPartlin checked himself into rehab
When he reached rock bottom and realised he needed to be taken to hospital by ambulance, he had to call her mobile phone to wake her up and ask for help.
With disarming honesty, he says he was an awful husband. ‘I’ve put Lisa through hell with mood swings and depression and how it affects you. I’m very sorry about the effect it has on partners.’
He added: ‘In hindsight, I should have mentioned it earlier, but you’re embarrassed about it. All I can say at the moment is that she’s been amazing — fantastic throughout. And we’re good. I was desperately worried about Lisa in rehab, but they start introducing phone calls after a few weeks.’
The exclusive clinic Ant attended prides itself on ‘unsurpassed privacy and confidentiality’.
With only a handful of patients treated at any one time, there is a private chef to deliver clients preferred food requirements. As well as therapy and psychoanalysis, acupuncture, meditation and shiatsu are offered.
The primary treatment lasts a minimum of four weeks, with the therapeutic team trying to uncover the issues causing the addiction, and addressing reasons for the self-destructive behaviour.
The TV presenter, pictured with his wife Lisa in May this year, said his dependence on painkillers stemmed from a 2014 knee injury
Personal issues and problems in relationships are also explored and mobile phones are banned as they seek to ‘break attachments’ and habits. The next four weeks allow for activities in the afternoon — Ant was seen at local shops and in the park with a counsellor.
His dog Hurley was allowed to come for a few nights, but there were no visits from family or friends, including his wife.
Ant said: ‘It was decided not to see your spouse, because you’re not meant to. But I made quite an impassioned plea to get my dog in. He stayed over for a couple of nights and lifted everybody’s spirits. The following month was more plain sailing after that.’
Eight weeks is a long time to be apart from a spouse, but such separations are nothing new for Ant and Lisa.
His workaholic tendencies, with weeks filming Britain’s Got Talent and Saturday Night Takeaway, and the annual making of I’m A Celebrity in Australia, have meant the couple have spent regular time apart throughout their marriage.
A friend of the couple points out Lisa is just as keen to work herself, which only added to the strain.
‘You might think she would sit back and be Mrs Ant, but she is one of the hardest working make-up artists. She turns up with a big smile and her suitcase on wheels at the crack of dawn,’ she said.
The TV presenter is one half of popular duo Ant and Dec, and was admitted into rehab two months ago
The friend adds: ‘She took on the Strictly job, even though it means that she is at her busiest just when Ant has finished I’m A Celebrity and is ready for a holiday.’
Indeed, Lisa is by no means willing to play second fiddle to her famous husband, who has a £60 million fortune.
Never the kind to sit back, when it became clear aged 19 that her fledgling pop career in the band Deuce was finished, she took an intensive course in make-up. Following a period looking after David Walliams on Britain’s Got Talent, she is now the lead make-up artist on Strictly.
Colleagues say she is a tough cookie. The friend said: ‘There have been times when it’s clear she is under strain, but she is not the sort of person to complain or wear her heart on her sleeve. Everyone is fond of Lisa, and clearly she has been going through a lot.’
Her work ethic was apparent from an early age: she studied dance at the Brit School in Croydon, alma mater of Adele and Amy Winehouse. Lisa would leave her home on the notoriously rough Blackbird Leys estate in Oxford at 5am every day, only returning home after 8pm.
Her schoolfriend Kelly O’Keefe said: ‘We went by coach. It was hard and I couldn’t stick it. But Lisa stuck it out. She is driven.’
She met Ant in 1994. Both were teenagers and Deuce were enjoying their two-year period of fame, with two top-20 singles.
Her bandmate Paul Holmes said: ‘We first met Ant and Dec on tour. We were supporting them as PJ and Duncan and I fancied Ant because I thought he was gay, too.
The Britain’s Got Talent host, pictured with Dec, is said to have become a ‘virtual recluse’ as he hid his secret battle, only leaving his home to head to film TV projects in a bid to cope with his pain
‘Both Lisa and I wanted him so it was a battle between us, but she got him.’
He added: ‘She just gets on with her career and lets him get on with his.’
Ant proposed 11 years later when the pair were on holiday in Dubai in 2005, and they married the following year.
While Dec has been a near permanent fixture in his life, Ant is also very close to his own family. Mum Christine has always been a frequent visitor to her son in London.
And it is Christine — or ‘Mam’ as Ant calls her — that he will be leaning on, a petite brunette who raised him on a council estate as a single mum, whom he credits for setting him on the path to stardom.
He remarks that she is a ‘very strong mother’ with whom he has a ‘fantastic relationship’. It was she who saw Ant getting into a fracas in a pub near his London home in 2014. One source suggests: ‘His mum is really relieved he has gone to rehab.’
The television star, pictured left with presenting partner Declan Donnelly and right with wife Lisa, said he hid his addiction because of the ’embarrassment’
Dec’s mum Annie said this week: ‘He’s close to his mum. She was by his side supporting him. She would put ice packs on his knee during intervals on Britain’s Got Talent.’
She added: ‘When I found out about what he had been going through, I was upset that he was in that much pain. I’m proud of him. His family and his mum will be, too.’
Ant and his mother are so close that he gave her away when she married her long-term partner, Dave, a cabbie, in 2005.
Dave even asked for Ant’s consent before he popped the question and was told: ‘It’s about time!’
Ant McPartlin, pictured on a rehab day out, said he was rushed to hospital in a ‘drug-induced psychosis’ due to his addiction
Their bond is tight because Ant became ‘man of the house’ when he was eight after his father, Ray, walked out. Christine raised Ant and Sarha on a council estate and took on temp and cleaning jobs. It was she who forced her reluctant son to go for a second audition for the Geordie soap, Byker Grove.
He recalled: ‘My mam went mad and rang the producers to tell them I’d definitely be there at the audition. She took me down there herself and when we arrived she was brilliant. She said: “Right, now it’s up to you. If you want to do it, do it. If you don’t like the experience, that’s fine, but at least give yourself the chance.”’
Little wonder, then, that Christine is delighted her son has begun turning around his life. ‘She’s happy to have me back,’ said Ant in his interview. ‘People do notice the difference in you when you’re down and depressed. She noticed it. She said she’s really happy to have her old son back, which is nice to hear.’
For now, Ant is still receiving therapy as ordered by his clinic, speaking to counsellors and other recovered addicts. He will also need yet another operation on his knee. All in all, he is rethinking the way he lives his life.
‘Money doesn’t make you happy. That’s been well documented over the years, but it helps to have a good life, though. I’m very lucky. Happiness for me is eventually being pain free,’ he said.
‘I’ll be very happy when that happens. But you know, it’s learning to have a better balanced life for me — enjoy yourself, take time off, don’t run yourself into the ground, travel more and look after yourself.’
Will Lisa be part of this new picture? As Ant himself says, only time will tell.
- Additional reporting: Kristy Dawson