FORMER Grange Hill star George Wilson has opened up about his secret bipolar disorder battle, which often left him hospitalised. The actor – who is best known for playing Ziggy on the BBC One show in the 1980s – spent years secretly battling the undiagnosed mental health disorder. Sitting down with Phillip Schofield and Holly […]
FORMER Grange Hill star George Wilson has opened up about his secret bipolar disorder battle, which often left him hospitalised.
The actor – who is best known for playing Ziggy on the BBC One show in the 1980s – spent years secretly battling the undiagnosed mental health disorder.
Sitting down with Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby on the This Morning sofa today, George revealed how the pressures of fame caused his life to spiral out of control.
He said: “The first four years were great doing the show, there were no problems.
“It was only towards the end the pressure was getting to me a bit.
“Things built up and I’m not saying all of the time, but sometimes fame can be a bad thing.”
George struggled to find acting roles following his departure from the show and was later arrested for smoking cannabis.
He continued: “When I came out of Grange Hill I thought I was going to be Brad Pitt, I thought I was going to walk into Hollywood… because that’s what I just knew for the past four or five years.
“But I realised it wasn’t to be and I had to work normal jobs and later on I didn’t mind that, but first of all it was difficult because they would say, ‘What’s Ziggy doing here?’ and giving me abuse behind my back.”
George added: “It eventually came to a climax… I was imagining so many frightening things and they’re all coming at you at once.”
“I’m talking about a million miles an hour and I just lost it totally and smashed my loft up, which had all of my most beautiful things I had collected over the years. I threw them out of the window. Just out of control.”
In 2011 George was finally diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Thankfully, things are now looking up for the star.
George revealed: “It’s been a long time since I was in hospital, seven or eight years. The phones are going again now, I’m getting scripts, auditions. I take life a lot easier than I used to.”
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