TV3 presenter Elaine Crowley has revealed her battle with depression and spoken out about the difficulties herself and her family went through as a result of it.
The 35-year-old told Irish Country Magazine she had dysphoria, a type of depression, for the past six months.
“I never felt suicidal but I did feel that if a bus ran me over it wouldn’t make any difference.” the host of TV3’s Midday show told the magazine.
“I was existing not living. I stopped socialising, I stopped going out and I was avoiding my friends and family. I was coming home from work, getting into bed and staying there until the following morning.
“I’m great at putting on a front so nobody in TV3 suspected a thing and I was in great form on air.”
The Midday host spoke out about her last few months.
But Elaine said she knows how lucky she is to have had her family and friends around her at the time.
“My friends and family got me through and I’m so lucky. I’m from Twopothouse, a rural area in Cork, and depression is just not spoken about. You only need to look at the spike in suicides in rural Ireland to see that.
“We don’t speak about it, the only way we know somebody is depressed in rural Ireland is when they kill themselves, and I was terrified that would happen to me.
“I was very lucky with my family but some people just can’t tell their families.”
“It’s easy to become a martyr to your difficulties, but this will not define me.”
Elaine spoke in full to the Irish Country Magazine. The June/July issue is on shelves from today.
