Ben Fogle reflects on how loss of stillborn son led to his 'mental health storm'
Ben Fogle has spoken in detail about the events that led to his mental breakdown last year, beginning with the loss of his son, who was stillborn, in 2014.
The New Lives in the Wild star, 51, said the loss made him "obsessed about control". But the need to control as much as he could eventually led to a "perfect storm of circumstances" that resulted in a breakdown.
Fogle and his wife, Marina, share their son and daughter, Ludo and Iona. Their third child, Willem, was stillborn in August 2014, after Marina suffered a placenta abruption and haemorrhaging at 33 weeks of pregnancy.
In a forthcoming appearance on the High Performance podcast, Fogle recalled the tragic event and said he was in Canada when it occurred.
"I had to take a flight to get back. I didn’t know if my wife was going to survive. It was like one of the periods in my life, I’ve had a few, when I had lost all control," he said.
"And what my brain, this amazing thing, did was it made me absolutely obsessed about control. I wanted to control everything. I wanted to control how happy my children were. I couldn’t bear it if they weren’t happy, but you can’t… you can’t just magic happiness."
Fogle continued: "I think when you try to control things when you are in the public eye and in modern life, that’s really, really difficult.
"That for me was also one of the problems, it was like a clash. A perfect storm of circumstances that all culminated together."
Fogle said he began becoming "overstimulated" and "expecting too much" of himself in 2023, and was “losing control of my emotions”.
In early 2024, Fogle was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). He previously said that a "recent mental health storm" was the "catalyst" for the diagnosis.
On the podcast, Fogle said there were "lots of tiny little alarm bells" signalling that he was not in a good place mentally, such as suffering from a panic attack before going to film in Antarctica.
He described feeling "restless and sick" before the trip, and then feeling "over-elated" when he returned. "That was the point of these yo-yo-ing emotions that, in hindsight, I realise were my body saying, 'Do you know what, you just need to slow down, stop being hard on yourself'."
Watch: Ben Fogle gives update on mental health as he says 'I'm happier than ever'
In an effort to take better care of his mental health, Fogle said he now spends less time on his phone and deleted social media apps from all his devices. He and his family also spend 10 hours outdoors when he is home.
"I live in the countryside, I’ve got lots of dogs, we’ve got horses, and I am probably outside, let’s say, of a 12-hour conventional day when I’m home, we and the family are outside probably 10 hours of that - even in the winter with torches out," he said.
Fogle has previously opened up about how the loss of his and Marina's son impacted him. In an Instagram post in 2021, he wrote: "Losing our son Willem was one of the most painful experiences.
"It has taken me a long time to recover from the trauma of losing my son and the fear that I would also lost my wife. Helplessness, guilt, sadness, and despair are just some of the emotions that become overwhelming.
"I lost my confidence and became withdrawn. It's a tough reality that one in four pregnancies end in miscarriage or stillbirth. Nothing can prepare you for the range of emotions and the unexpected repercussions along the way."
Marina, who is a member of the Fundraising Board at baby loss charity Tommy's, said the anniversary of Willem's death is a particularly "bleak time" for the family. "I accept that, but then sometimes I'll just wake up and feel sad. When that happens, I cry, take myself off for a walk and just cry."
For more information and support you can visit Tommy’s or stillbirth and neonatal death charity, Sands UK.
Read more about pregnancy and baby loss:
Miscarriage: What happens and where to find support (Yahoo Life UK, 5-min read)
Parents who have miscarriages can now get baby loss certificates under new government measures (The Independent, 2-min read)
Myleene Klass says miscarriage isn’t a 'dark secret' as she becomes MBE (Yahoo Life UK, 4-min read)
