BBC The Repair Shop's Jay Blades says he hit 'rock bottom' and saw 'no future' during darkest moments

The Repair Shop star Jay Blades has said credited his community for 'building him back up' after he saw 'no future' in the world during his darkest moments.

The 53-year-old spoke about his mental health struggles with Spencer Matthews on the Big Fish podcast, describing how he had 'fallen down' and hit 'rock bottom' following a string of personal issues. He also discussed his early experiences of racism in school and how he had learned to express his vulnerability.

Jay set up the charity Out of The Dark, teaching young people how to restore and sell old furniture, which later ran out of funding in 2015. At this time his marriage also broke down, with Jay saying he “saw no future in this world”.

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He told Spencer: “I call it falling down because I believe we all have to fall down to then be able to get back up. Some people can’t get back up, but the way that I got back up was with community, the love that they gave me, they built me back up, basically.”

He continued: “I’d say hit rock bottom. Some people want to say suicidal thoughts, depression… At 45 years old I saw no future for me in this world. I had three children already, I had a failed marriage… I wanted to end it. If I could have I would have.”

Jay said that he had had “a lot of support” during that period of his life, including several counsellors, and had learned to get rid of the “macho male” attitude he had maintained during his youth. He explained: “The one thing that really worked for me… it’s a case of my vulnerability – when I showed my vulnerability, wow, I just flew… things just started happening.

“I’ve just got rid of that macho male, ‘Oh, I’m tough as nails, I can handle this’. I