Big Brother host Will Best has opened up about his lifelong battle with anxiety, revealing that he lives in a “permanent state of terror” and has suffered with health anxiety since childhood.
The 40-year-old TV presenter currently fronts the rebooted Celebrity Big Brother series on ITV. He spoke candidly about his struggles during an episode of Loose Women in January. The star admitted that despite a thriving career, he’s often paralysed by worry.
“I don’t know why I did it,” Will confessed, reflecting on his high-pressure career. “The busier I’ve got… the last couple of years have been amazing. But I do now live in a permanent state of terror.”
Will Best opens up about health condition
Will revealed that his anxiety started early in life. It was triggered by a growing awareness of health conditions and the fear that something could go wrong with his body.
“I remember as a kid, as I discovered what cancer was and I was like: ‘Oh that sounds bad oh no I’m going to get that.’ It’s always been bubbling away,” Will admitted.
“The health anxiety thing I’ve been wanting to get a hand on.”
That worry hasn’t gone away. In fact, it’s only shifted – now centring around his beloved Tibetan Terrier, Sandwich.
“I’ve now transferred a lot of health anxiety to my dog. I’m constantly checking him. He’s got a skin tag, but you scroll the whole way through Google, it’s bad.”
Speaking on the Private Parts podcast in 2023, Will shared that he tried talking therapy, but struggled to connect with it.
“I’ve tried talking therapy and it didn’t do it for me. I think I’m impatient. I just want to go to someone with a problem and say ‘just tell me how to fix this’ – like instant relief, boom.”
He added: “It didn’t work for me. I would walk out feeling like, I’ve just talked to somebody for an hour and I’ve made myself a bit sad, and I still think I’ve got knee cancer.”
Despite therapy not providing the immediate relief he hoped for, Will remains open to new approaches, including EMDR.
This light-based therapy is designed to rewire the brain’s response to trauma and fear.
‘I didn’t sleep one second’
Will recounted a terrifying episode where he became convinced he had leukaemia after noticing bruises on his body.
“I didn’t sleep one second that night. The doctor was like: ‘Unexplained bruising, it’s never a good sign.'”
It was only after a hospital trip – and the eventual discovery that his gym machine was causing the bruising – that Will realised how severe his anxiety had become.
“Next day I go to the gym. I’m using this thing where you’ve got the weights, you’ve got the wires, and I’m doing this exercise and the wires are really rubbing my shoulders and just above my hips. So it was that all along.”
Will admitted that before taking on the Big Brother reboot in 2023, he undertook a specific therapy technique to help manage launch-night nerves, especially his fear of getting a dry mouth live on air.
“I did a type of therapy that dissociates negative thoughts from specific scenarios. I didn’t get a dry mouth!”
He explained that while he’s still waiting for his anxiety to subside, he’s not sure if it ever will.
“I’m waiting for it to subside. To get easier. But maybe it won’t. It’s a sludge within me. I do need to get it sorted out.”
CBB continues tonight (April 11) at 9pm on ITV1.
Read more: First housemate to leave Celebrity Big Brother 2025 ‘revealed’
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