A year after withdrawing from all television commitments and checking into rehab, Ant McPartlin sat down with friend and presenting partner Dec Donnelly for a tell-all interview.
In March 2018, Ant drove his car into two others in southwest London while under the influence of alcohol. He received Britain’s largest ever drink-driving penalty – of £86,000. And a driving ban, for 20 months.
Ant’s publicist said at the time that he had “decided to go back into treatment and step down from his current TV commitments”. Talking about it all in 2019 had Dec in tears within minutes.
Declan Donnelly ‘in tears’ talking about Ant McPartlin’s rehab stint
Dec told The Guardian in March 2019 that the thought that he might have to forge a solo career after Ant’s crash “crossed my mind”.
“Of course I thought about it. Ant went away, and he had a lot of work to do on himself. He had a lot of thinking to do. Equally, I did. I thought about every eventuality and every permutation.
“Ultimately, the number one thing I wanted to happen was that Ant came back and he was healthy and happy, and we got our relationship back on track and we carried on. That’s the thing that makes me the happiest, working together.”
At this point in the conversation, Dec wipes his eyes and apologises, saying he might get “a bit emotional”.
Then the waterworks start with Ant, too.
But the thought that he might have to work out a career path as an individual was the last thing on Dec’s mind, when Ant checked himself into rehab.
“Everything else pales into insignificance,” he told the paper. “We always said our career was built on our friendship and that our friendship was the secret of our success. The career just happened by accident.”
Ant admits that he was ‘lost’ and needed some time to get back on track
Elsewhere in the interview, Ant admits to being “lost” at that time in his life.
He says life “swallowed” him up for a few years. Now, after his stint in rehab and taking some time to seriously reflect on what’s important, his “impulsiveness” and “manicness” are less severe.
In 2020, Ant and Dec celebrated 30 years of working together. That year, they released Once Upon A Tyne, a joint memoir featuring stories from their time as a duo and from behind the scenes of their various shows.
Catch Ant and Dec on BGT Saturdays at 6.45pm, and on I’m A Celebrity South Africa, weeknights at 9pm, both on ITV.
Read more: Man jailed for 19 weeks over police calls about Ant and Dec
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