Ant McPartlin ‘never knew’ he had ADHD until caught drink-driving

Ant McPartlin opens up to Kate Middleton about past addictions

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Back in 2018, an intoxicated Ant McPartlin whizzed around a corner in his car while intoxicated with more than double the legal drinking limit and crashed into two vehicles. In the end, he was fined £86,000, had to cancel TV roles and had relationship problems with his colleague Declan Donnelly. One of the people in the crash said in court: “We believed we could have died.” Shortly after the diagnosis, Ant McPartlin was diagnosed with ADHD, which he said “made sense.”

Talking about the revelation of his ADHD, he said to The Sun: “I never knew that until afterwards. I was so thoroughly examined and diagnosed, I found stuff out about me I hadn’t addressed for years.”

He suggested it “made sense” as there are “a lot of links” between ADHD and alcohol dependency.

ADHD, or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is a condition that affects people’s behaviour and can make them act impulsively or restless.

According to the organisation CHADD, ADHD can cause a range of difficult interpersonal issues.

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It explains: “Individuals with ADHD often experience social difficulties, social rejection, and interpersonal relationship problems as a result of their inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity.

“Such negative interpersonal outcomes cause emotional pain and suffering.”

In the UK, roughly 24 per cent of male adults in prison have a history of ADHD or ADHD symptoms, according to a study published in BMC Psychiatry.

For Ant, this “emotional pain” consisted of a temporary fracturing in his relationship with colleague Declan Donelly.

He said of Donelly at the time: “We’re friends first and foremost. And we’re friends from the age of 13. But of course, there’s going to be tensions there.

Around the time of the arrest, McPartlin stepped away from the show. He is now back on the show and in top form.

But at the time, he said stepping away was the “correct decision”.

“It was absolutely the correct decision for Dec to carry on with Takeaway,” McPartlin said. “If it had been the other way, I would have done the same.

“I said to Dec, ‘I just need to take time out and re-evaluate and get better and deal with things going on in my life. It will take as long as it takes.’”

After the event, McPartlin had a lot of sympathy for others with the condition and said “It’s OK to not be OK” and that his “heart goes out to them”.

Given the potential links between certain ‘impulsive’ criminal behaviours, some MPs in the past, such as Labour MP Alex Sobel have sought to make testing for arrested 12 to 20-year-olds for ADHD mandatory.

According to the Ministry of Justice, all new prisoners undergo three assessments within their first week which find out whether they have ADHD, reported the BBC.

Latest research about ADHD

A new review of scientific literature looking at animals to study ADHD has concluded that caffeine could help manage certain mental symptoms of ADHD, such as learning and memory problems, as well as attention issues.

However, it found that caffeine may not be suitable for individuals with ADHD that are having problems with hyperactivity and impulsiveness.

The medication most widely used at the moment are stimulants such as Ritalin and Concerta, as well as amphetamine.

But there is a lot of controversy surrounding the use of these drugs.

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