It would be overly simplistic, but not altogether inaccurate, to say that little Ross Clark found comfort in the dream of becoming a star. In an era where reality TV made people bona fide A-listers, it didn’t seem that out of reach. Especially if he wasn’t fussy about how he got there. “I didn’t care what the job was,” he says. “I just wanted the fame.” Clark is funny and formidable company, full of quippy, brazen one-liners and with such a fondness for the F-word that I am amazed he managed to hold down so many jobs on live TV. He’s talking to me in the plush, open-plan kitchen of his Essex home, which he renovated himself. It has a custom-made Big Brother “diary room”, a gym, a replica train station, a swimming pool, and a floor-to-ceiling tank that once housed three moon jellyfish called Beyoncé, Kelly and Michelle. That is, until Kelly ate Michelle, Beyoncé ate Kelly, and Beyoncé dissolved. The Strictly It Takes Two host said on the Happy Place podcast: "My body did completely shut down. I wouldn't eat. I went through a stage where I couldn't even talk, which for some people might be quite handy. My speech was just slurred. My mum thought I was having a stroke. My body just went. I went down to 9st and I am six-foot-four." In January, The Mirror published a video of him on a night out, in which he giggles the words, “Gimme the gear.” It was, he writes in his book, “in the middle of the street, in public, and clearly I was making a joke”. But he doesn’t care about that now. Funny and outspoken, Rylan is one of the UK's most-loved presenters and a true household name. Rylan first emerged on our screens in September 2012 and in the ten years since then has become a one-of-a-kind national treasure.

But now if there’s something I really don’t want to do, I’m going to say no. I’ve learned to be more in control. I’ve not had control for so long, I feel like Britney!’ I felt I couldn’t carry on no more,” the 33-year-old writes in the book. “‘What’s the point?’ I thought. I’d lost what I thought was everything, the one thing I always wanted. A man I loved. A family of my own. And now it was gone. And so I tried to end it.” The TV star has now put pen to paper in a new book, Ten: The Decade That Changed My Future, which chronicles his life from finding fame on The X Factor in 2012 up until now. And for the first time he details the reasons for the end of his marriage, admitting he had cheated "years ago" but only told Dan last year.I was paralysed doing stunts on Harry Potter. It was still the best job in the world 17 November, 2023 Mathew Baynton on the end of Ghosts: 'What the f*** have we done?' 09 November, 2023 Richard Hammond: 'Top Gear wasn't laddish. We weren't misogynistic. We were three nice blokes' 23 October, 2023 The book is honest to a fault about Clark’s own shortcomings, but skirts around the details of his ex’s behaviour, dropping hints – “It still keeps playing on my mind why he didn’t want to work to fix what we had. Well, unfortunately/fortunately, I found my answers” – without ever going into detail. Was that to protect Neal? “All I’ve ever done is protect everyone else apart from myself,” says Clark. “And do you know what? For the first time, I could easily not protect anyone. But I’ve actually got a bit of class.” If you, or anyone you know, needs help dealing with mental health problems, the following organisations provide support: He then added: "The book opens with a disclaimer put it that way. That is how bad it got." Last week, Rylan hared how his mum Linda, who is a hit among his fans having appeared alongside him on Celebrity Gogglebox and his BBC Radio 2 show, was concerned.

The aim is that by sharing practical advice, raising awareness and breaking down the barriers people face when talking about their mental health, we can all do our bit to help save lives.Does choosing the high road also mean ignoring those headlines? “Since the whole ‘drugs scandal’, I just laugh now,” he says. The couple went their separate ways after six years of marriage, and Rylan has been candid about the struggles he’s faced since then.

Evidently, he still feels that way. “If you want to be a gymnast and win Gold at the Olympics, all you need to do is train for it,” he assures me. The new memoir begins with that breakdown – “I thought I might as well jump straight in, get it out the way,” he says – and describes in stark, painful detail the worst year of his life. It tells of how Clark woke up one morning and, for reasons he didn’t yet understand, confessed to his then-husband Dan Neal that he had once cheated on him. Things unravelled from there. Neal left him. He stopped eating. He stopped talking. He stopped sleeping. He pulled out of work commitments, including presenting his beloved Eurovision. Then he tried to take his own life. Rylan Clark on Celebrity Masterchef (Photo: BBC/Shine TV) Anyway. He didn’t win The X Factor, but it got him onto Celebrity Big Brother, a show he had adored growing up. He walked out the winner, and was asked to host Big Brother’s Bit on the Side. It turned out that innate charm doesn’t teach you how to read an autocue.Thankfully, there are other options for anyone hoping to catch a TV personality at the Greenhithe shopping centre this autumn. The pair met on Big Brother's Bit on the Side - which Rylan was hosting - in 2015 and they became engaged the following year. Rylan and Dan, an ex-Met Police detective, walked down the aisle in 2016 and kept their relationship away from the public eye. But fans became concerned after Rylan missed several weeks of his radio show. After a few false starts – including an appearance on Katie Price’s ill-fated talent show Signed by Katie Price – it was The X Factor that did it. Once he stepped onto the stage, it was immediately obvious he was a born performer, if not a born singer. “You get a lot of blokes that’ll sit there and be like, ‘Oh! I wanna be the male Lady Gaga,’” he told the cameras, standing in a queue of thousands of other hopefuls. “The difference is I could actually be.” The crowd loved him, Gary Barlow hated him, and he got through to the next round. Then the one after that. Several more auditions and one sob fest with Nicole Scherzinger later, he was on the live shows. Rylan Clark auditioning for The X Factor in 2012 (Photo: PA) Speaking to The Guardian, he said: ‘I was having thoughts and doing things that made me… f**ked up, for want of a better word.

Rylan said he then went into "self blame" mode and felt his life was over and spent time hiding at his mum's house. He writes: "And for the first time in thirty two years I felt I couldn't carry on no more. What's the point I thought. I'd lost what I thought was everything, the one thing I always wanted. A man I loved. A family of my own. And now it was gone. And so I tried to end it." As his marriage came to an abrupt end, Rylan pulled out of work events. He said: "Two days before I was due to do Eurovision, everyone knew when I wasn't at Eurovision something was wrong."Speculation then began as to why he had pulled out of his show before his split was rumoured. Rylan, 33, later confirmed the separation in a statement which said: "Following reports about Dan and I spending time apart, I feel I have to speak out - as the way it is being reported is unfair. I have made a number of mistakes which I deeply regret and have inevitably led to the breakdown of our marriage." It doesn't discriminate, touching the lives of people in every corner of society - from the homeless and unemployed to builders and doctors, reality stars and footballers.