Alex Bowen opened up about his mental health issues on Thursday morning.
The 31-year-old reality star, who is working to raise awareness of men’s mental health after losing his best friend Joe Richards to suicide in November, shared the morning after a video was released of his visit to Birmingham Mind made a candid post on his Instagram.
He revealed he felt “anxious, sick and sad” when he woke up and wasn’t sure why, wondering if it was because he was talking about Joe, but added that he felt better , after speaking to wife Olivia, and encouraged others to speak to a loved one.
Candid: Alex Bowen opened up about his mental health struggles (pictured in October) on Thursday morning and admitted he felt “anxious and sick and just sad”.
Support: The star admitted he felt better after speaking to wife Olivia about how he was feeling (pictured together in London earlier this month)
He wrote on his Instagram story: “Don’t usually post things like this but I want to help men speak up and if I don’t I just come off as hypocritical.
“This morning I woke up thinking I was fine, then I felt very anxious and sick driving to the gym and was just sad if I’m honest and I wanted to burst into tears.
“I had no idea why I was talking to Liv and telling her about it and saying maybe posting about Joe last night triggered some stored emotions and I just had to let them out.
“I kept thinking about weird things, sort of catastrophic thinking, like something bad was going to happen. I went to the gym and I’m feeling a little better.
“Honestly, if you’re feeling down, just talk to a loved one.”
Honest: He wrote on his Instagram story: “I don’t usually post things like this but I want to help men speak up and if I don’t I just come off as hypocritical.”
It comes after Alex revealed in December he had started a new challenge to raise money for men’s mental health and suicide prevention in tribute to Joe.
The TV personality described the grieving process as “one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to go through.”
Keeping his Instagram followers up to date on the challenge, the former Love Island star announced the challenge, which will see him complete a series of physical challenges over the next few months, building up to a big one in May.
‘It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to go through’: Alex Bowen described his struggle with grief on Wednesday and revealed he has started a charity challenge in tribute to his late best friend Joe
Alex shared a video detailing charity projects and explained that he will be raising money for the charity Birmingham Mind.
He said at the time: “So I recently posted on my social media that my best friend took his own life for mental health reasons.
“And for the past few weeks since it happened me and my friends and his whole family feels like I’ve never lost anyone so I’ve been feeling all these emotions like I’m up and then me.” am below.
“One day I feel like I’m okay and then I’m like, ‘Should I be okay? and I really don’t know how to deal with it. So what I’m up to, me and my best friend TY are going to raise awareness through many challenges just to raise as much money as possible and we will all raise money and do it for Joe. ‘
Tragic: Alex lost his friend Joe to suicide in November and described the grieving process as “one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to go through”.
“So to raise awareness, me and Ty are going to be taking on all these crazy challenges that are building up into a big challenge which I think will be in May.
“Obviously I’m from the West Midlands so I’m going to do a 24 hour run, non-stop through Birmingham, West Brom, Tipton, Dudley, Wolverhampton, all the places I grew up, Ty and Joe grew up,” shared he with.
Concluding: “We will be doing this through a Just Giving page called ‘For Joe’ and all proceeds will go to the Birmingham Mind Charity.
Under the caption of the post, which featured video of Alex walking and jogging outdoors, he wrote that losing Joe was “one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to go through.”
Outdoors: Alex spoke over a video of him walking and jogging outdoors in a voiceover as he revealed the challenge
He continued that he “didn’t really know how to think about anything,” and shared that he wanted to use his big platform to raise awareness about men’s mental health and suicide.
Alex has set a fundraising goal of £50,000 and has given up until June 2023 to reach the goal.
He shared the tragic news of Joe’s death on Instagram in November, posting a carousel of snaps over the years as he coped with the traumatic event.
Horrific: In early November, he shared the tragic news of Joe’s death on Instagram, posting a carousel of snaps over the years as he coped with the traumatic event
Alex welcomed five-month-old son Abel to his wife Olivia in June 2022, calling Joe his son’s “uncle STIG.”
Sharing the post, he wrote: “Don’t know how I’m feeling right now but I know you’ve made my life better since the day we met and been there for me I can’t believe you mean me Won’t see son grow up but I’ll make sure he knows who his uncle STIG was.
The fitness trainer continued, “I feel like I’ve lost a big part of my life, but I know I will celebrate your life every day and you will live on in all of us.
“All I know is that you’re resting up there with your grandma right now, and that’s all you wanted. I LOVE YOU BROTHER!’
Donate to Alex’s Just Giving Page, 4 Joe, at justgiving.com/fundraisin/alex-bowen3.
Good times: Multiple pictures show them looking dapper and fooling around at Alex’s 2018 wedding to Olivia