Matt Willis has revealed why he told his 13-year-old daughter about his addiction struggles ahead of his upcoming documentary Fighting Addiction.
Matt appeared on The One Show on Monday night (May 15) to promote his new documentary, which explores his struggles with addiction and his relapse five years ago. The Busted singer has three children with wife Emma – Isabelle, 13, Ace, 11 and Trixie, seven.
Matt watched Fighting Addiction with his 13-year-old daughter
Matt told The One Show hosts Alex Jones and Jermaine Jenas that he watched his Fighting Addiction documentary with his 13-year-old daughter. The musician revealed that he felt she was “old enough” to know about his addiction. He said: “She’s almost 14, I thought she’s old enough to know about alcoholism and addiction.”
Matt also revealed his daughter had the most “incredible” questions after watching the documentary. He added: “We watched it together and she had the most incredible questions, I was blown away by her reaction to it. I thought it was important as her friends or parents at school might watch it so I wanted to preempt her with that.”
Speaking to the BBC ahead of his The One Show appearance, Matt opened up about Isabelle watching the documentary. He said: “It’s going to be really hard to see her dad like that and what her mum had to deal with. But I think nothing should be swept under the carpet. We have to be as honest and open as possible.”
‘It dawned on me I was going to be a terrible father’
The star previously opened up on Giovanna Fletcher’s Happy Mum Happy Baby podcast about missing key moments in Isabelle’s life due to his addiction. He said: “I missed Emma’s birthday, she was in Birmingham and I was doing a TV show at the time. It was the wrap party. Someone just handed me a glass of champagne and I was off. She [Isabelle] crawled that night and I was in a pub Watford with strangers. And it dawned on me that I was going to be a terrible father.
“It really hit me. It hit me like a tonne of bricks. That for me was the turning point and I ran out of the house, I walked down the road and I walked to the pub. I didn’t go in. I had some gear in my pocket which I chucked in the bin,” he said.
Matt went back to Emma’s and added: “I got on my knees and apologised. I said: ‘I’m so so sorry and I’m going to change.’ And I really meant it. That moment wasn’t so much about stopping drink and drugs, it was about being a terrible father and losing everything and then having to live with that.”
Matt Willis opens up about his ‘violent’ childhood
In the documentary, Matt opens up about his “violent” childhood, which he thinks may have contributed to his dependency on drink and drugs. He revealed: “As soon as I was 16, I moved away from home as far as possible. And never really went back. I was a little kid, and chasing oblivion. Everyone thought it was funny. But there was a sadness there.”
For 20 years, I’ve been avoiding therapy that looks into my childhood.
He also admitted: “Our childhood was messy. My mum and dad got divorced when I was three, and my stepdad moved in when I was five. And we had a very heated relationship. I have a lot of pain around that. For 20 years, I’ve been avoiding therapy that looks into my childhood.”
Matt Willis: Fighting Addiction airs on Wednesday, May 17, 2023 at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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