TV star Romesh Ranganathan previously opened up about his suicidal thoughts after one of his close friends tragically took their own life.
The actor and comedian, who hosts ITV’s Parents’ Evening this weekend (November 16), is a patron of mental health charity CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably). He also ran the London Marathon in aid of the charity in 2023 and 2024.
As well as that, Romesh has spoken about his own mental health issues.
Romesh Ranganathan on friend’s suicide
In an interview with The Times last month, Romesh opened up about his friend’s death three years ago. The pair met when his friend was a teacher at the school Romesh became the head of sixth form at.
Even though Romesh’s career in comedy began in 2010, his friend was one of the first people to champion and believe in his dreams.
“He’d drive me to the crappy open-mike gigs and watch me perform to four people in some bar in Southampton,” he revealed.
When Romesh’s comedy career took off, he quit his teaching job. However, he and his friend remained close.
His friend, on the other hand, would later lose his job for providing “over-diligent help with a class’s GCSE coursework”. Sadly, the worst was still yet to happen. While out in Ethiopia filming The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan, Romesh was informed that his friend had died from suicide.
“I was completely off-grid for 48 hours. As we were driving back I got reception and my phone started blowing up. The first message read: ‘I can’t believe what’s happened,’” he explained.
Romesh ‘used to fantasise’ about death
As she began to get reception, Romesh soon found out that the sad news that his friend had died, leaving him distraught.
Romesh’s initial emotions were that he felt that he had “let his friend down”. Upon realising that “you can’t do anything about that now”, he began working with the mental health charity CALM.
Speaking about the impact of his friend’s death, Romesh said: “On more than one occasion, I have felt suicidal. Somebody told me it was ideation. I used to fantasise about it. I’d be feeling so stressed out. The idea of those feelings disappearing felt tempting,” Romesh continued.
During an appearance on The Diary of a CEO Podcast, Romesh opened up about his suicidal thoughts once again.
“I think that all comedians are wired slightly differently,” he said, adding, “They’ve had something happen to them that has made them an outsider in some way.”
Read more: Romesh Ranganathan: From maths teacher to beloved TV comedian and The Weakest Link host
Romesh Ranganathan’s Parents’ Evening is on ITV1 at 9.15pm on Saturday (November 16).
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