Anthony Field is opening up about a recent health diagnosis that has changed his life.
At age 61, the Blue Wiggle has delved deeper into his mental health than ever, revealing he was diagnosed with ADHD at the beginning of the year, which he describes as “the best thing”.
Watch the video above
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“I never had a problem on stage. Never. It was where I was at peace with the world. But off stage, you know what? [I’d] go into a deep hole and it would last months,” Field, now 62, told PEOPLE.
“But the trouble with depression or mental health, when you’re in the midst of it, you don’t understand that that’s actually happening.”
The children’s entertainer says with his new diagnosis and medication, he has been able to do a lot of things he wasn’t able to do before, such as sitting through a movie.
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“My mother’s in a nursing home, and I can now go visit her and sit there for longer than five minutes before I say I have to go,” he said.
Field says his “doctors and therapy and supportive family” are the reason for his positive progress, as well as making music with the Wiggles.
“Here at Wiggles, they all know how I am,” he said.
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The Wiggles: Then and now
The father-of-three – including daughter Lucia, who works alongside him as a Wiggle – has been open about his mental health journey.
He previously spoke about his struggles in 2017 in an appearance on ABC’s Anh’s Brush With Fame, sharing that he has had dark thoughts since he was a teenager studying at St Joseph’s College boarding school in Sydney.
“For me, it wasn’t a great experience, I must admit,” he shared, “There were really good people there and good teachers, but it just didn’t work for me.”
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“I mean, boarding school – things happen there which I won’t go into, but they were too much for a young teenager to cope with by yourself,” he said, “You’re away from your parents and as years rolled on I just started feeling bad about myself.”
His depression made him feel like, “you shouldn’t be on the earth, basically.
“The scariest part is when you’re in that zone and you’re actually thinking about doing the worst thing possible you can do to yourself, you actually think that’s a release, and that it will be better.”
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“[It’s like] you’re a waste of time,” he continued. “You’re in a crowd with people and you feel like you’re the only person who feels like that [it’s as if] they don’t understand me — no one gets to me.”
He first opened up about his mental health in his 2012 autobiography, How I Got My Wiggle Back: A Memoir of Healing.
In it, he detailed how he struggled silently from depression for eight years before seeking help in 2003.
If you or anyone you know needs immediate support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or via lifeline.org.au. In an emergency, call 000.
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