James Argent’s friends and family sought therapy over ‘terrible effects’ of his drink and drug addictions
Posted by  badge Boss on Mar 31, 2022 - 06:24PM
James has spoken about the effect his drink and drug addiction had on his worried family (Picture: SWNS for Mailonline)

has opened up on the ‘terrible effects’ his addictions had on his family.

The former reality star, 34, has been in the spotlight in recent months as he after losing 13 stone in weight – with doctors now advising him he .

But while the former The Only Way Is Essex star was praised for having an open conversation on his weight loss, including his gastric sleeve operation and , behind the headlines he was still struggling.

The reality star has been sober for two years but recently, however has apparently recovered well from his setback.

Now, in a new interview with , Arg admitted that, in his worst days of his addiction, his family were desperately worried about him – so much so that some of them had to seek therapy of their own.

Their worry was also entrenched in guilt, he revealed, as they had distanced themselves from him at the time so as not to enable him on his path of self-destruction.

The star recently opened up on his relapse on Loose Women (Picture: ITV)

He told the outlet: ‘My using has terrible effects on other people, like my mum and close friends, cos they panic thinking their son or best mate’s gonna die.

‘I’m giving other people anxiety and sleepless nights and other people have had to have therapy off the back of my issues.’

Wedding singer Arg went on to say that his family are hugely proud and supportive of his recovery, but admitted there ‘is still that feat of potentially relapsing’, adding he needs to ‘take my recovery seriously’.

Opening up on his relapse, Arg said previous attempts at sobriety sometimes didn’t go to plan as he could ‘forget how bad things were in the past’.

‘You can even tell yourself, “Oh this time it might be different, I can have a few drinks, I can manage it this time, I can control it this time,” but when you’re an addict you can’t,’ he explained.

Following his recent relapse, Arg , where he shared that loneliness and changing his relationship with food had caused the setback.

James is recovering well after suffering a relapse earlier this year (Picture: Getty Images)

The star said that he’s naturally an ‘extrovert’ and admitted that spending long periods of time all alone can be tough, despite the fact he’s purchased his ‘dream home’ in Essex.

He said: ‘I managed to do it but it’s a family home, and I’m in there in this beautiful house all alone. No girlfriend, no one to live with me.’

‘I love company, I love entertaining and I love being entertained,’ he said.

‘A lot of people’s chaos can be from being out all the time… my chaos starts when I’m indoors, alone, bored, lonely. Too much time on my hands.’