Last month, James spoke to the Mirror ahead of the release of his tell-all memoir. James’ memoir Meet Ella: The Dog Who Saved My Life, candidly explores his mental health journey and suicidal thoughts, and how his beloved cocker spaniel Ella helped to pull him back from the brink. The touching book also delves into the unwavering support given to him by his family, including his sister, and how he first confided in them about his struggles in 2017 before publicly speaking about them in 2019.

He told the Mirror: “When I first publicly spoke about my depression, they were launching their Heads Together charity and that was great for me to learn and understand and have a platform. As I’ve said, I didn’t believe I was allowed to have mental health or depression and that work was a good catalyst for me to want to speak out because I can’t ever avoid or hide away from who my sister is, I will always be her brother. But it made me feel confident enough and supportive enough in what they were speaking about in what I felt. ”

James details in his book his family’s support during his mental health struggles, and he said it has been much of the same through their recent trials. He said: “I think as a family, we are a close family and through the experiences of my mental health and challenges we’ve faced over the years, we’ve learned to be a support for each other and that comes in different shapes and forms. I think we are very much in that supportive place for each other, which I recognise we are really lucky to have as not all families have it.”