Following his Gold Logie win, Grant Denyer has opened up about how he overcame his ‘dark days’ following a battle with depression and an addiction to prescription drugs.
Now, newly surfaced footage from the hosts last appearance as Sunrise’s weatherman shows the 40-year-old host looking weak and aloof.
The footage shows Denyer umming and aahing, rambling about his wardrobe choice and joking that his daughter didn’t know who her father was.
According to Denyer, doctors told him to quit as Sunrise’s weather presenter after tests showed his organs were working at ‘7 per cent’, however he failed to do so until much later.
More troubling footage also surfaced showing the former weatherman collapsing while in a stunt plane in early 2013.
Appearing gaunt with dark circles under his eyes, Grant seems to be struggling to maintain his composure as the plane loops and spins. The TV host’s eyes suddenly roll back in his head and his mouth drops open before he slumps against his seat.
Cutting back to the studio, Mel Doyle gasps and says: He’s passed out! Oh cut! We don’t want to see that’.
Speaking to Confidential following his Gold Logie win on Sunday night, the 40-year-old host revealed he didn’t give a ‘s***t’ if he ‘lived or died’ following his 2008 monster truck crash that left him with a broken back.
‘It was a time where I didn’t really give a s**t whether I lived or died,’ Grant said. ‘I felt like I had nothing to live for.’
Denyer admitted it was the birth of his first daughter, Sailor, 7, that helped him make a healthy recovery.
‘I reckon if I didn’t have my daughter, at that particular point, I might not be here,’ he told the publication. ‘There are all sorts of traps that come with medications and warnings and no one prepares you for that,’ he said. ‘It’s a hard cycle to get out of. I was a bit broken, sad, lost.’
When presented with the Gold Logie at the 60th Annual Logie Awards at the Star Gold Coast, Denyer took the opportunity to thank Family Feud for ‘saving his life.’
The 40-year-old presenter emotionally referenced his time in a Thai health facility in 2013 during his speech, as he admitted he had been ‘very unwell’ and ‘in a hole before Family Feud came along.’
‘Family Feud is important, it came along for me in my life at a time where I really wasn’t quite sure if I would ever work again or if I wanted to,’ he told the crowd.
Struggling to hold in the tears, he continued: ‘I wasn’t very well. I was pretty sad and a bit lost and I was in a bit of a hole.’
‘Family Feud gave me the ladder to crawl out of that hole. It gave me mojo. It gave me courage. It gave me confidence. Family Feud, thank you so much, you saved me.’
The host, who also won Most Popular Presenter, had his wife Cheryl by his side to celebrate the emotional achievement.
The emotional host then spoke lovingly of wife of eight years, Cheryl, and their two daughters, Sailor and Scout, and thanked Cheryl for sticking with him through the ‘best and worst times.’
‘To my beautiful wife, Chezzi. Oh my God, we did it, darlin’. We did it! We b****y did it. We are an incredible team and I want you to share in this.
‘You’ve been there to hole me up when I wasn’t so great. You believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself and you made the two most beautiful girls, Sailor and Scout.’
This week on fun TV podcast, Binge List, Matt, Clare and Gavin name their top 5 shows of 2018 so far, their biggest disappointments, their favourite Aussie dramas, and the best of reality TV. They also cast a surprising spotlight on some shows you thought were long gone. Subscribe on iTunes: http://po.st/syE3JF or OMNY: http://po.st/IlEcNa
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