Roman Kemp started taking sertraline, an antidepressant, as a teenager and although he weaned himself off the medication slowly and safely, Roman admitted it has been harder than he anticipated.
Roman Kemp says coming off antidepressants has been “difficult”.
The 32-year-old presenter started taking sertraline, an antidepressant, as a teenager and although he weaned himself off the medication slowly and safely, Roman admitted it has been harder than he anticipated.
He told the Mirror: “It comes and goes, but in the last year for me, it’s been very interesting – I’ve come off antidepressants and it’s been difficult. It’s been a bit more difficult than I thought it would be.”
Speaking about the dangers of going cold turkey, Roman said: “Never do that. I’ve done that and my doctor gave me a very firm telling off. I actually ended up in one of the worst places of my life when I did that. But when I did it this time, you came down slowly and came off it. For me, I don’t look at it like a failure; if I’ve got to go back on them, so be it. That’s what’s better for me.”
Roman was left devastated in 2021 when his close pal and Capital FM colleague, Joe Lyons took his own life and Roman fronted the BBC Three documentary, Roman Kemp: Our Silent Emergency, to explore mental health issues among young men.
He said: “It’s really hard, I speak about it now, it can come across in a desensitised way. It’s easy for me to talk about because there’s no taboo around it for me, because the worst thing has already happened.”
“It’s a decision that I made when I wanted to make it, and you’re in a catch-22. In one sense, if you said to me, ‘Look at all these people you might have helped with Joe’s story, would you rather have that or have Joe back?’ I’d always just have him back; it sounds selfish in a way. This is the situation we’re in.
“I didn’t make the first documentary to try and help anyone; that was for me to try and understand it myself. I’ve always said, I made it very selfishly to work out what happened to my friend. From someone who had already considered killing themselves, how have I not seen that?
“That’s the difficult thing, the difficulty is making people realise it’s not just mental health awareness day or month. World suicide prevention day shouldn’t be a thing; it should be every day. That’s the journey we’ve got to go on.”
Roman Kemp: ‘I’ve come off antidepressants and it’s been more difficult than I thought it would be’
