Big Brother champ Pete Bennett admits he was “trying not to kill myself” after winning show

Pete Bennett has admitted he struggled so much after winning Big Brother in 2006 that he considered suicide.

The reality star, who appeared on The Jeremy Kyle Show last week to discuss his past drug use, hit rock bottom after a number of his friends passed away and he was unable to get work.

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Speaking on Fubar Radio about life after Big Brother, he said: “It was good for about a week, I was on top of the world and I had big plans but I wasn’t really allowed to do them.

“The next thing you know [best friend] Wobbly Bob has cancer and dies. He was my best friend in the whole world. It was the same time Jade Goody was dying of cancer too.

“No one knew what was happening in my world, it was a lonely time. My friends kept dropping off – it was too much.

“Then in 2013, another good friend hung himself and I realised I had become seriously depressed.”

He added: “It was horrible, I was trying not to kill myself, it was very hard. I had to go and get help – I wasn’t grieving because I was too busy getting off my nut.”

To make things worse, Pete found work soon dried up after Big Brother and he lost all his money.

He said: “My first agent gave me all this ‘big up’, telling me I’d be super rich and work with Guy Chambers. It was an amazing opportunity but it didn’t work out because nobody would sign me up.

“I was dropped straight away and the agent didn’t know what to do with me.

“They wouldn’t put me on the telly either. They said to be somebody to be taken seriously in the music industry I shouldn’t do talk shows, but I wanted to do it and have a laugh.

“I was pushed down a direction I didn’t want to go in,” he added. “I was told I’d make all this money and be able to buy this house and pay it off really soon.”

“So I did what they advisors said and ended up with no money. I couldn’t pay for the rest of the house and then there was the credit crunch.”

Pete was forced to sell his house at half the price he paid for it and found himself homeless.

The television star turned to drugs but is now off them and is happy with his life once again.

He concluded: “I feel like I’ve been reborn. I can string a sentence together, which is something I was having trouble with before, now it’s wicked and I really appreciate what I’ve got.

“I love being alive and I’ve learned that you don’t need material possessions to be happy. The biggest lesson in life is to love yourself.”

Glad to hear it, Pete!

GALLERY: The 2015 Celebrity Big Brother house