Emily MacDonagh has revealed husband Peter Andre told her to leave him after his battle with anxiety was putting a strain on their marriage.
Emily and Aussie singer Pete married in 2015 and have two children together – Amelia, three, and Theo, nine-months.
Emily, 28, was discussing the pressures of mental illness on family members when she made the revelation.
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Pete, 44, has been very open about suffering from social anxiety and has admitted medication helped him a lot. Now he’s determined to get people talking about it to raise more awareness.
Emily said in her OK! magazine column: “Pete has been open about when he was suffering from anxiety and he said that I should walk away from him.”
The mum-of-two explained that she was prepared to stand by her fella and help him through it.
“But I always said to him that we’re a team and we’re in it together,” she added.
The junior doctor continued: “It’s not always that straightforward, though, so it’s very important not to forget the pressure of a mental illness on family members.”
Emily opened about her other half’s struggles after reflecting on Britain’s Got Talent presenter Ant McPartlin’s recent rehab stint following his addictions to alcohol and painkillers.
Ant, 41, checked himself into the rehabilitation centre after admitting he needed help to wife Lisa Armstrong and best friend and co-star Declan Donnelly.
Lisa and Dec stood by the Geordie favourite and gave him all the support he needed.
Relating to Lisa, Emily said: “[Ant] has opened up about his wife Lisa being an amazing support after he put her through ‘hell’ with his depression.
“When someone is suffering from mental health problems it can be easy for families to be pushed apart, even when you love someone so much, so I wasn’t surprised to hear that.”
She continued: “But there is support out there for family members who may be dealing with something like this.”
She then went on to explain Pete’s problems and how she can relate to Lisa in some aspects.
Pete, who is also dad to Junior, 12, and Princess, 10, from his previous marriage to Katie Price, opened up about his struggles earlier this year during an appearance on This Morning.
Back in March Pete told hosts Holly and Phil about the moment he realised he had social anxiety. He said: “Ayda [Field] was on and she was talking about her husband Robbie [Williams] suffering from social anxiety.
“My ears pricked up.”
The reality star added: “She started explaining that when certain events are coming up, like a red carpet event or if there’s a party, he’ll cancel it last minute or something will happen and he’ll freak out and go ‘I can’t do it’.
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“And I went ‘that’s what the label is, that’s what I’ve had all these years – social anxiety’.”
Speaking about how medication helped him cope with some of his issues the Mysterious Girl singer added: “Medication is a bit like sweeping it under the carpet, but I needed the medication to get me to the point where I could talk about what was causing my anxiety in therapy.”