Jay Blades' very different past and turning point that saved his life
Television presenter Jay Blades is known for fixing things for others on BBC's The Repair Shop, but has devastatingly faced struggles 'fixing' himself after trauma and hardships in his personal life over the years. The 53-year-old restoration worker, who tonight takes viewers through the fascinating history of his adoptive home on Jay Blades: The Midlands Through Time, hit rock bottom eight years ago.
In 2015, his world completely fell apart and he endured some of the darkest days of his life when he lost everything all at once - his marriage, the charity he was running, and his home. At the time, he was "unable to see tomorrow" and considered taking his own life, before his loved ones reached out and gave him the vital support he needed to help him through his lowest times.
Jay grew up in HackneyJay grew up living on a council estate in Hackney with his mum and maternal half-brother and hiding the fact that he couldn't read. He credits his love of restoring furniture to his childhood as he was often repairing things as his family couldn't afford to buy more. Appearing on Channel 5's There's No Place Like Home, Jay told how things didn't improve in his 20s, and he would later end up homeless. "At 21 I was all over the place," he admitted. "I had no direction, I left London because I was getting into loads of fights and there were people after me.
"My mum moved to Luton and I lived up there with her for a bit. I had my first child, and then split up with the missus and moved back to London, then I ended up homeless and went into a hostel. I had a supermarket carrier bag with all of my stuff in there and it wasn't a lot." At 31, things seemed to be turning around for him as he enrolled in university as a mature student to study criminology, and while there he met his first wife, Jade, and the pair had a daughter together.
The pair were said to be a "brilliant business team" and they set up a charity together, called Out of the Dark, which helped to train disadvantaged youths to restore old furniture. After running the charity for 15 years, it lost its funding, and around the same time, Jay and Jade's relationship broke down as there was no longer "a spark". Jay revealed he would lay wide awake "agonising" over whether they should split and felt "huge amounts of guilt".
The Repair Shop guest in tears after sharing harrowing story behind painting
The 53-year-old used to hide the fact that he couldn't read (Jay Blades)
He can't believe how his life has turned around (Getty Images for BAFTA)"I was the one who had brought the happy house, our family home, our business, all crashing down," wrote Jay in his book, Making It: How Love, Kindness And Community Helped Me Repair My Life. There was too much internal pressure to cope with and Jay explained he "snapped" in the darkest moment of his life in April 2015. Describing it as an "out-of-body experience", Jay said something inside him "broke" and he decided to get in his battered old BMW and drive off with no end destination.
"Everything came at once," he recalled to the Mirror in 2020. "My marriage had broken down, I didn't have any money, and the people that I employed I had to make redundant. The state that I was in I would have taken my own life, and I came close. I got in my car and decided to drive. I had no vision of where I was going. I ended up in Wolverhampton, and for a couple of nights I slept in my car." During that traumatic week, Jay lost a stone because he wasn't eating or drinking and hadn't had a wash in days.
"I was unable to see tomorrow, I couldn't see myself existing in the future," he told the Mirror while bravely opening up. "It was everything, the breakdown of my marriage, my business, me not being able to speak about it to anyone." All Jay could think about at that moment was what he had been told by a teacher at secondary school, that he would be a "failure". He added: "My careers teacher when I was 14 told me it wasn't worth trying because my life would always amount to nothing.
"All my life I'd put all that negativity in a box. Now the lid had closed and I had entered a world that was dark, completely dark. I couldn’t even think straight about the effect on my kids, who I loved more than life itself." Jay considered taking his own life but eventually ran out of petrol and pulled into a retail park where he sat eating burgers at the wheel. Ex-wife Jade was concerned for his safety and phoned the police, who found him with a psychiatric nurse and told him they thought he might be a danger to himself.
Jay and his wife Lisa (Instagram)Fortunately, they let him go with a friend, Gerald Bailey, owner of the Diffusion fashion chain, who Jay credits with saving his life. Describing the life-changing moment when he sat in Gerald's car, he said: "I sobbed. Proper, shoulder-heaving, gut-wrenching, inconsolable sobs. Everything poured out. I bawled and I howled. I was brought up not to cry, to always act tough. I had never cried in front of another man before. When I stopped, the numbness had passed. I was alive again."
Gerald arranged for Jay to stay with his mum and stepdad, who became like a second family amid his recovery. He told The Mail: "It's weird what I'm about to say, but by living with them, they gave me life again. They reborn me... at 45. I was experiencing being born again. They would cook me food, look after me, I would look after them and it was the most beautiful second childhood I had at 45."
Jay, who has three children, now lives in Wolverhampton with his wife Lisa Zbozen whom he married in 2022. He's since set up Jay & Co, a furniture restoration business in the city. Shortly after his TV career began to take off, as he appeared on Kirstie Allsopp's Handmade Christmas craft show in 2014, before going on to co-present BBC's Money For Nothing alongside Sarah Moore. In 2017 he started presenting , which is now in its 12th series.
As well as hosting The Repair Shop, the presenter landed his own feel-good spin-off, Jay's Yorkshire Workshop, making items from scratch for "deserving" people, helping groups of volunteers build bespoke pieces for unsuspecting community heroes - everything from chairs to cabinets, to cocktail bars. He told the Mirror: "So many people have given back to their communities. Now it's time for my community workshop to give back to them."
- Jay Blades: The Midlands Through Time airs on Channel 4 at 9pm tonight
*If you're struggling and need to talk, the Samaritans operate a free helpline open 24/7 on 116 123. Alternatively, you can email [email protected] or visit their site to find your local branch
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