I’m A Celeb’s Dean McCullough opens up on battle with alcohol addiction that left him in a ‘really dark place’ after celebrating four years of sobriety

I’m A Celeb’s Dean McCullough has battled with an alcohol addiction that left him in a ‘really dark place’ and celebrated four years of sobriety in September.

The BBC Radio 1 presenter admitted he quit drinking after abusing alcohol during the pandemic when he was drinking two bottles of wine and a bottle of vodka at the weekends.

After a trip to Ibiza with his friends before the Jungle, the Northern Irish star wrote on social media: ‘In the last 18 months I’ve had a whirlwind of experiences. 

‘I’ve bought my own home & felt every bit of stress around that.

‘I’ve fallen in love with the wrong person and had to navigate the breakdown of that. I’ve had a shift at work and navigated all of that.

‘Sadly I’ve had family members pass away and we’ve all had to process the deep pain of that.

The BBC Radio 1 presenter admitted he quit drinking after abusing alcohol during the pandemic when he was drinking two bottles of wine and a bottle of vodka at the weekends

‘I wanted to stop boozing for a month to refocus my mind and take back control of what was a spiralling problem.

‘I wanted to go for my dream job at Radio 1 but had absolutely no idea how that was going to happen but what would happen next would be remarkable.

‘Everything aligned, I stayed sober for another month and then Radio 1 happened, my mind opened up and I felt like me.’

The DJ revealed that during the Covid-19 lockdowns, his binge drinking had got out of control and his mental health had been severely affected.

‘What was like a glass of wine of an evening after work turned into a bottle which turned into two bottles and then, some weekends, I was drinking like a bottle of vodka too.

‘It wasn’t until I was going to work on a Monday and I was looking at the bins and I was like, ‘I didn’t drink all that?’

After a trip to Ibiza with his friends before the Jungle, the Northern Irish star wrote on social media: ‘In the last 18 months I’ve had a whirlwind of experiences

‘I wanted to go for my dream job at Radio 1 but had absolutely no idea how that was going to happen but what would happen next would be remarkable’

‘But I had, because there was no one else in the house. It was the pandemic, and I just got myself into a bad way and I was sort of thinking some really, really dark thoughts to myself. Anybody who’s kind of struggled with mental health will know what it’s like.

He added: ‘I didn’t plan it. I didn’t think, ‘This is my last drink. This is my last party.’ I literally woke up on the first of September and I turned to my mate and said, ‘This is it, like I’m going to stop drinking for a month. Just to see what happens.’

‘There was no real pivotal moment. It wasn’t a really horrendous hangover. I didn’t go through a break-up.

‘I just saw the path in front of me and it wasn’t nice. It was really dark and it was very destructive.’