Nicky with his beloved golden labrador Maxwell
After struggling for years to come to terms with being adopted, Long Lost Family presenter Nicky Campbell finally had a breakdown. Then a true friend helped him find peace…
At 6.30 I said good morning – the biggest lie I’d ever told – to our listeners on Radio 5 Live. I felt sick in my heart and could barely breathe.
After the clock had agonisingly ticked round to the end of the programme, I made my way out of the building in a zombie march.
For years – despite my successful career in television and radio presenting, and my wonderful wife and four daughters – I had been in a downward spiral. Suffering obsessions, fixations, manic missions, terrible lows and deep depressions. I’d been having random moments of crying when I felt overwhelmed by a despair that seemed to come from nowhere – no specific trigger, but a feeling that my heart was broken. That morning, it was a news story about animal cruelty which had fina