Chef Kevin Dundon reveals moment he knew his life had taken a ...

Chef Kevin Dundon has admitted that he fell into a deep depression earlier in the year despite being known on our screens for always having a smile on his face.

The 57-year-old shared that as the year progressed, he was sinking deeper into depression, and neither his family nor his passion for food could lift him out of it.

Weighing nearly 18 stone, he realized he needed to make a change for his physical and mental well-being and for the sake of his family.

Speaking to the Irish Independent, he explained that while thousands of people were enjoying time off work and taking advantage of downtime during the pandemic, he was trying to find ways of keeping up with paying bills.

As life returned to normal, Dundon threw himself back into work, pushing himself to the limit. However, this eventually resulted in a breakdown.

Explaining that there were ‘endless days’ when he didn’t have the energy for work, he said: ‘I would go down to work, but then I would come back home and lie on the couch for the afternoon.

‘My motivation was gone. My feeling was, “What’s the point?”. I felt like I was running away from everything.’

Although he had plenty of support from those around him, including his wife Catherine, he turned to food for comfort. Over time, however, people started to notice changes in him.

After members of the public pointed out Dundon’s weight gain and difficulty fitting into clothes, he decided he had reached his limit.

He returned to the Ayurvedic Health Resort in India, a place that had previously helped him quit smoking a few years earlier.

Thankfully, the detox worked wonders for the father-of-three, helping him improve his physical and mental health.

‘I feel so happy in myself and so creative about work again,’ he said to the Irish Independent. ‘I’m not sleeping during the day, and I want to be out and about or swimming in the Forty Foot.

‘My family think it’s great, and my kids are really proud of me.’