A Good Morning Britain guest opened up about the tragic death of her brother as she raised awareness for Movember
A guest on GMB fought back tears recalling her brother’s death (Image: ITV)
A guest on Good Morning Britain fought back tears as she opened up about the death of her brother, recalling the “worst day of my life” when she found out he’d died by suicide.
Raising awareness for men’s mental health and suicide prevention ahead of Movember, Jocelyn Bannatyne spoke about her brother Ryan’s death at the age of 27 last year.
Speaking to presenters Ed Balls and Charlotte Hawkins on Wednesday (October 29), she began: “He was the most incredible person I’ve ever met, he was my role model, my best friend, and last July I got a call from my mum saying he had taken his own life.”
Fighting back tears, she continued: “I didn’t know he was struggling, I didn’t know what to say or how to react, he had the life that I think everyone envisioned for someone to be happy.
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“He had a beautiful wife, two young children, a really successful business, and we really miss him every single day.”
She continued: “He showed up to work everyday, he showed up for his family everyday, there was never a phone call he missed of mine, but inside he was really struggling.
“He didn’t have the resources to reach out, so ultimately, those thoughts were put into action and is the reason he’s not here.”
Her brother Ryan died by suicide last year at the age of 27 (Image: ITV)
When asked by Ed if there was anything people could have seen or done to help her brother, she added: “Running a business can be really stressful, having two young children can be overwhelming, maybe providing an outlet to talk about his feelings, talk about what’s going on without feeling like a burden on people, but other than the every day stresses, nothing.
“I look back on my last conversation with him, my last time with him here and there’s nothing. That phone call for me will always be the worst day of my life, and I remember thinking how this cannot be true, it certainly wasn’t my brother, you’ve got the wrong person.”
Jocelyn is now campaigning to raise awareness of suicide prevention as a Movember ambassador.
Jocelyn fought back tears recalling the “worst day of my life” (Image: ITV)
She said: “I wanted to be able to advocate for men’s mental health, I wanted to be able to share my story to hopefully help people, create an environment for them to be able to have conversations, look out for signs, but it’s unfortunate that it took something so horrible and so drastic to happen for me to get involved in a way that was more advocating for them.
“I know that by being here and sharing my story, it’s a really vulnerable position but I think those vulnerable conversations are what are going to save people’s lives.”
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1 and ITVX.
For support, call Samaritans for free at 116 123, available any time, 365 days a year. Visit https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/ for more information.
