Heston Blumenthal reveals hallucinations and ‘mania’ that left him sectioned for 3 weeks

Heston Blumenthal has opened up about his psychotic ‘mania’ and the events that led to him being sectioned as he reveals he imagined a ‘gun’.

The celebrity chef, 58, revealed that he’d been diagnosed as bipolar earlier this year after previously receiving a positive assessment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in 2017.

The chef who runs a Michelin-star restaurant in Berkshire revealed that his psychosis manifested in ‘true mania’ as he revealed he suffered from insomnia and hallucinations.

He said he wanted to ‘save the world’ and ‘I wanted to love every single person on it, because everyone is wonderful. I’d vomit ideas.’

That said, he revealed that if someone moved so much as ‘a Post-it note . . . then bang, I’d get really angry at the world, I wouldn’t mince my words.’

He added: ‘I’d become a danger to myself and also [a] potential danger to people around me. I’m not talking about physical danger, but emotional danger. I never had suicidal thoughts [before then] , touch wood, thankfully they’ve gone.’

Heston revealed that at one point his hallucinations were so bad he believed there was ‘a gun on the table . . . It seemed real.’ 

He told The Financial Times that he also struggled to sleep and revealed that he was awake for four or five days. ‘I was so excited. Talking about making stuff. It was true mania.’

The well-known chef revealed his bipolar disorder in May when he called for workplaces to be more welcoming to neurodivergent individuals. The chef said at the time: ‘My most artistic, innovative and exciting work is because I am neurodivergent, which I describe as my superpower.’

In July, Heston revealed it was his wife, Melanie Ceysson, who was forced to have him sectioned.

In a segment for The One Show, the couple spoke openly about this traumatic time: ‘These recurring nighs to lows were getting stronger and stronger and more regular. I was on a massive high and had been for several days. I was having hallucinations, feelings of paranoia and even suicidal thoughts.’

He continued: ‘Melanie made the difficult decision to have me sectioned which involved me being sedated. There was knock on the door, there’s a policeman, then five firemen and then a doctor with an assistant and I was like “What the hell is going on here?” And then I saw the doctor pulling out this big syringe and then I woke up in hospital.’

‘I realise now looking back on it, it’s horrible for people that care about you. At the end of the day you saved my life,’ Heston told his wife.

He added: ‘Since my diagnosis, I’ve learned a lot more about myself, and I’ve realised that a lot of my creativity is thanks to bipolar.

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