Dr Alex George has opened up about the “horror” of losing his younger brother, Llŷr, to suicide.
The Love Island star announced the death of his younger brother back in July, following a battle with his mental health.
Speaking to Frankie Bridge on the Open Mind podcast, Alex admitted he still feels “numb” over his brother’s tragic passing.
“It’s been a tough few months, he passed on the 23rd of June so not that long ago. I’m probably still very much in a numb phase,” he said.
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“I went through the horror, shock, breakdown in the first few weeks. It was out of the blue entirely.”
“As an older brother, it’s tough to have a younger sibling do that. He had a place in medical school, he was due to start this year.”
“I’ll never get over it, I think it will take me a long time to accept it. It was very much out of the blue. I think he was anxious about his exam results but we certainly didn’t think he felt like that.”
In September, Alex said he felt “tremendous guilt” over his brother’s death.
Speaking on ITV’s Lorraine, he confessed: “I felt tremendous guilt instantly. You know, I’m the older brother, I always wanted to protect him, look after him. I thought, ‘What could I have done differently?’”
“I’m supposed to be a mental health advocate and all the work I’ve done around it. So it was anguish. It was the worst thing.”
“Mental health and physical health is akin. Just as you can have a heart attack and pass away, mental health is just the same. It is an illness. That’s why it’s so important we treat it that way.”
Speaking about how his parents are coping, Alex said: “It’s tough, really tough. You bring someone up their whole life, till the age of 18, 19. They did an incredible job.”
“They looked after us incredibly well. You bring them up to that age and you’re ready to let them move on to the outside world…To lose a child is incredibly difficult for anyone.”
“Grief is a difficult thing as well. There’s a lot of people grieving in the country right now, whether it’s because of the pandemic or something else.”
“Please look after yourselves and reach out and ask for help as well,” he urged viewers, “There’s no shame in it at all.”
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