Rio Ferdinand Reveals How Talking Helped Him After Losing His Wife

Rio Ferdinand Reveals How Talking Helped Him After Losing His Wife

Rio Ferdinand and the daughter of the Archbishop of Canterbury have opened up about the mental health pressures they faced, as part of a campaign spearheaded by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.

In the latest in a series of videos filmed for William, Kate and Harry's Heads Together initiative, Ferdinand and Katharine Welby-Roberts speak about the life-changing conversations that helped them cope.

Former England footballer Ferdinand, who was praised for appearing in a BBC documentary about losing his wife Rebecca to cancer, is shown talking to his longstanding friend Jamie Moralee about the first time he opened up about his grief.

Ferdinand described it as a "release" to finally start talking.

"You just mentioned something and it just triggered that chain of events and that free-flowing conversation. You start talking about feelings and stuff going forward and it was a release," he said.

"I think in these situations, you need to have the ability to be able to get your feelings out. I think it doesn't just help you, it helps all the people close, because they then feel more comfortable, because everyone just feels awkward."

Mr Moralee said it was his job as a friend to step in and say: "Are you all right, mate? Is there anything I can do? Do you need to talk?"

He added: "I think it was about six months into Rebecca's passing when we were in Qatar, that I plucked up the courage if you like, even though I've known you 20 years, to actually say 'How are you?' and start to sort of mention some memories and what a fantastic lady she was.

"It got us talking and after 15, 20 minutes I think we ended up both crying our eyes out on the beach."

Katharine Welby-Roberts, Archbishop Justin Welby's daughter, is shown talking to her mother Caroline about how starting to discuss her depression with her family and writing a blog enabled her to seek help.

"I always thought I'd communicated how I was feeling and what was happening in my head and clearly I hadn't," Ms Welby-Roberts said.

"It was only when it came down to writing my blog that I found I was able to explain to you more of how I was feeling and how I was doing. I think that was quite helpful for me to know that you had a clearer understanding of what I was dealing with."

Her mother Caroline said: "I think one of the things that I've learnt is it is much more difficult to understand if there is absolutely no framework and if everything on the surface just looks normal."

Film director Sir Richard Eyre, who filmed Ms Welby-Roberts' segment for the #OkToSay initiative said: "Depression is always hard to describe: it's an invisible darkness. There's nothing more important than talking about it to a sympathetic person."

The first batch of films showed celebrities such as former England cricket captain Andrew Flintoff, rapper Professor Green and comic Ruby Wax discussing their experiences.

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