Louise Thompson: Mental health struggles made me feel like I was not alive

By Mike Bedigan, PA Los Angeles Correspondent

Louise Thompson says she has experienced times when she felt she was “not alive” after going through multiple traumatic incidents and struggling with ongoing mental health problems.

The Made In Chelsea star, 32, said her brain had “basically shut down” and she had experienced panic attacks “back to back”.

In a video posted to Instagram, she spoke candidly about her experiences over the past few months but reassured viewers also struggling that they were “not alone,” saying she wanted to “give them hope”.

It comes less than a week after Thompson was admitted to hospital for the second time in a month to be treated for mental health issues, saying she would be taking a break from social media.

She told viewers that despite appearing “well presented, put together and happy” in her video, it had taken her six attempts to record and things had been “really bad” for her recently.

“Mental health is the most cruel, invisible disease out there but I want you to know you are not alone,” she said.

“You can never predict (it), you never think these things will happen to you I had everything and it’s all been completely ripped away from me.”

The reality TV star added there had been times she had wished that airplanes would crash into her house and could not think about anything “except death”.

“I was scared of everything in my house…I couldn’t see, couldn’t smell, couldn’t talk… when I would talk I would panic because every word that came out of my mouth didn’t make sense,” she said.

“I was not alive, I couldn’t have a normal thought. My brain basically shut down.

“When something really traumatic happens your brain can’t process it properly…and it means you live in fear.”

Thompson also said that she had been messaged by men whose partners who were also struggling and that she wanted to provide “pure reassurance” that things would get better.

“I wish there was an easier way, there is no magic cure. This disease will teach you a great deal of patience,” she said.

“But you have to keep going… please choose life and get help.”

Thompson was diagnosed with PTSD after suffering complications while giving birth to her son Leo-Hunter, with her partner Ryan Libbey, late last year.

She later revealed to her followers that Leo-Hunter had been treated in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and she had been treated in the adult ICU after the birth.

On Christmas Day, she shared a heartfelt post in which she paid tribute to the NHS staff who “worked through the night to save my life”.

The TV star appeared in Made In Chelsea’s first series in 2011, progressing to become one of the E4 show’s main characters, while partner Libbey joined the cast in 2016 during filming in the south of France.

The couple became engaged in 2018 after he proposed during a hiking trip in Los Angeles.