Ant McPartlin reveals unlikely celebrity helped him through addiction

He's gone back to work!

Author: Emma DoddsPublished 21st Jan 2019
Last updated 21st Jan 2019

Ant McPartlin's life has been well-documented over the last 18 months. Not only has he been through rehab twice to help him with his addictions to alcohol and prescription painkillers, but he also had a less-than-amicable split from his wife of 11 years, Lisa Armstrong, and is now in a happy relationship with their former PA, Anne-Marie Corbett.

Thankfully, he's come out the other side and is now back at work, having gone back last week for the start of the Britain's Got Talent auditions, reuniting him with his co-presenter and best pal, Declan Donnelly, who successfully presented I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! last year with Holly Willoughby.

And now, the 43-year-old has revealed that there was one celebrity in particular that he turned to throughout his problems, thanks to their own experiences with addiction struggles.

According to the Mirror Online, Ant confessed that he'd turned to The X Factor judge Robbie Williams in his time of need, who has suffered with alcohol addictions in the past.

Swipe through to see Ant and Dec's career timeline through the years...

And & Dec: Early career

Ant & Dec as PJ and Duncan


In 1989 Dec landed a part on BBC children's drama Byker Grove, playing Duncan. A year later Ant was cast as PJ – PJ and Duncan was born.


Another career change for the boys came in 1994, when they began as co-presenters of children's show Gimme 5 on CITV. Just a year later they landed their own programme, The Ant & Dec Show, this time on CBBC.

Ant McPartlin reveals unlikely celebrity helped him through addiction
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He said that Robbie had been a "constant" and throughout his problems, and was still continuing to help him. He added, "I've seen him quite a lot recently. I gave him my twopenn’orth and I thought he was brilliant," adding that Robbie's wife Ayda Field Williams had also been a great source of comfort.

Ant has also opened up about his new relationship with Anne-Marie, describing her as his "rock" and a "beautiful soul", adding that he's now in "the best place" he's ever been "in my life".

This comes after Ant and Dec were reunited over the weekend at the Britain's Got Talent auditions, sharing a sweet snap of them together on Twitter whilst on their way, with the caption, '#BGT 2019. Audition day 1. The boys are back in town!'

In a video from the first audition, Dec can be heard introducing Ant to the crowd before the pair embrace for a hug. Dec said, "The judges are back, the buzzers are back... and someone else is back. My co-host for this series, would you please welcome - Mr Ant McPartlin!"

As Ant appeared on stage, the 43-year-old said, "Oh god, I'm really, really emotional now. I've missed you all." Ant then turned to Dec and said, "As for you! I've missed you," before the pair hugged it out on stage.

Turning to the crowd, Ant added, "What a lovely welcome. What a great show to come back to. I'm thrilled, I'm over the moon. Shall we crack on before I cry?

Britain's Got Talent does not yet have a start date, but is expected to return in April 2019.

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