Ant McPartlin opens up to Kate Middleton about his past addictions

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The I’m A Celebrity stars were hosting the launch of a campaign where Kate was speaking about the problem. But as she joined them on stage she quipped: “I wasn’t expecting that, I felt like I was walking into a bushtucker trial!” Kate, 39, later had a heart-to-heart with Ant, 45, who has suffered booze and drugs addiction problems himself.

He told her his dependency followed knee surgery and culminated in him entering rehab after crashing his car while more than twice the drink-drive limit in 2018.

Ant said: “By the time I asked for help it was bad. But as soon as you open up to people, the problems start to disappear. It gets better.”

Kate replied: “The more you speak to ­everybody, there are so many people who have ­experienced it themselves or known someone. You hear time and again, people say, ‘I wish I had this support earlier’.”

Earlier the Duchess revealed she shares a love of turtlenecks with husband William when she arrived at Bafta’s London HQ in a red sweater and skirt.

She launched the Taking Action on Addiction campaign saying: “Addiction is not a choice. No one chooses to become an addict. But it can happen to any one of us. None of us are immune.

“Yet it’s too rarely discussed. By ­recognising what lies beneath we can help remove the taboo and shame.”

The Duchess, as patron of The Forward Trust, is encouraging people to ask for help before problems tip into addiction. She also warned the pandemic has increased the number of vulnerable people.

Kate said: “We know over 1.5 million people who did not have substance misuse prior to ­lockdown may now be experiencing problems associated with increased alcohol consumption. Around two million individuals who were identified as being in recovery may have experienced a relapse over the past 18 months.

“And almost one million young people and children are showing an increase in addictive behaviour.”

She also met people helped by the trust including recovering addict Ellie Froud, 39, and daughters Leah, 15, and Elsa, 14. Ellie said: “It’s OK me being better, but there’s also what everyone else went through.”

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