Jamie Laing: ‘My brain was all over the place’

Radio One’s Jamie Laing talked about ADHD, mental health, and Comic Relief in a panel discussion held at Man Met on Monday (20 January).

The event was the first of January’s Future Me Week line-up, which aims to give students opportunities to expand their skills and experience outside of the classroom through workshops and talks. He was followed in the panel by Sky Sports’ Miriam Walker-Khan and GB Paralympian Gregg Stevenson, who gave their own insight to their careers and life experience.

The first half of the talk followed Jamie Laing, host of BBC Radio One’s Going Home show, as he went into detail about his life and career. Laing currently hosts three podcasts and runs his own business, a vegan confectionary company named Candy Kittens, but first rose to fame following an appearance on Made in Chelsea back in 2011.

“A few of my friends were doing the show, and I was asked to do the first series,” he said. “The pitch to me was that they were going to make a TV show about posh kids, and I thought that was the worst idea I’d ever heard.

“I had a toss up of going down the road of getting a job, or trying to build this sweet-making dream that I wanted to do. I thought if I went on the show, I could use it for marketing. They actually changed a lot of rules on being able to promote your own brand on television because it became somewhat successful!”

Laing appeared on Made in Chelsea’s second series, where he was known as “a posh idiot who just liked to kiss people,” but as the show progressed, he began to feel symptoms of mental strain.

“It was around the time that social media had started, so there was a lot of noise going on,” he said. “As a kid, I was super energetic and all over the place, but probably had some underlying anxiety that I didn’t know about. I didn’t know what anxiety was back then – no one spoke about it.

“About a year into the show, I had a panic attack. I didn’t tell anyone. I went home and the anxiety never stopped, I was panicking about panicking, and I didn’t want the television to know because I thought they’d think I was strange. I was this confident guy, always outgoing, turned into someone who just felt this inner anxiety.

Comic Relief ambassador

“I have ADHD, and my brain was all over the place. I’m a big advocate for mental health, and I’m an ambassador for the Campaign Against Living Miserably. I shouldn’t be saying this, but I’m actually doing something for Comic Relief – I’m running from BBC Radio One in London to Manchester.

“Fifty miles of running in five days – I’ve never run a marathon in my life! But my whole point is, pushing yourself is a really important thing, and not fearing failure. Failure is a great thing. I’ve failed so much throughout my life. I’ll probably fail at this run, but that doesn’t matter. It’s about trying it: that’s way better than not trying at all.”

Despite his work for Candy Kitten and his plans for Comic Relief, Laing says he has no plans of toning down his broadcasting career.

Speaking to NQ, he described his work at the BBC as “a dream come true.”

“The industry is changing rapidly. Back when I started television, there were these gatekeepers – the commissioners – and if you wanted a show, they had to create it for you. Now we can do it ourselves.

“For me, Radio One was always a dream. I came from a background of reality, and no reality star was ever going to go and do Radio One – so that was my vision. I wanted to do that, and I love talking, and that’s what radio is about. I’ve loved the transition, it’s been amazing.”

Future Me Week continues until Friday (24 January) with a full lineup of events available here.