George Shelley has admitted he "wasn’t well" and fell into a dark depression after his sister died.
The former Union J singer was left totally heartbroken after his younger sibling Harriet passed away from a "severe traumatic brain injury" at the age of 21 after being hit by a car in April 2017.
In a bid to try and shut down his feelings, George locked himself away at his flat for months and turned to alcohol and video games to try and forget what happened to his family in the wake of her death.
In an interview on ‘Loose Women’, he said: "I was turning to locking myself away and playing video games and drinking. If you don’t know how to talk about these things, with young men especially you’re scared of being told to ‘man up’."
As the panel began to discuss the high suicide rate in men under the age of 40, George admitted he did have thoughts about ending everything but in the end he was saved by his therapist who convinced him to go on a course of anti-depressants.
He revealed: "I don’t want to say the words because I don’t want to think that myself, but I wasn’t well. I was seeing a therapist almost as soon as we lost Harriet. He recommended anti-depressants three times and by the third time he was like these are really going to help you. I was afraid but by the third time I accepted it and understanding what you’re going through – you break your leg, you’re given crutches."
George, 25, appears in new BBC Three documentary ‘George Shelley: Learning to Grieve’ in which he explores how Harriet’s passing affected all those close to her.
Making the film was a cathartic experience for the former ‘X Factor’ contestant and allowed him to process his feelings.
He said: "The documentary has helped me learn how to talk about it. It’s taught me to share how I’m feeling. I go to a siblings retreat."
Harriet tragically died after being struck by a Volkswagen Beetle vehicle after she had been to a Stormzy gig in Bristol.
George doesn’t blame the driver for his sister’s death as there was nothing more they could have done and he accepts it’s just a tragic accident.
He said: "She was just innocently on a night out in Bristol and she needed a wee and the car was driving at 20mph – it wasn’t speeding. It just brushed past her and she fell back and hit her head in two places on the floor."
George Shelley ‘wasn’t well’ after sister’s death
