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Podcast Summary: We Need To Talk with Paul C. Brunson - Episode Featuring Pete Wicks
Episode Overview In this episode of *We Need To Talk*, Paul C. Brunson sits down with reality TV star Pete Wicks to discuss his life in the spotlight, personal struggles, and the journey of self-discovery. The conversation touches on themes of authenticity, mental health, and vulnerability while addressing the importance of genuine human connection amid fame and public opinion.
Content Warning This episode contains discussions around sensitive topics including mental health, suicide, and the impact of public scrutiny.
Key Points and Themes
Introduction to Pete Wicks
- Background: Pete Wicks is recognized for his role in the reality TV series *TOWIE* (The Only Way Is Essex) and is known for his distinctive style and personality.
- Public Appeal: The episode addresses why Pete is a sought-after guest, focusing on his relatability and charm.
Personal Connections
- Love for Dogs: Both Paul and Pete share a deep affection for dogs, discussing the unconditional love dogs offer and how they provide a sense of safety.
- Influence of Early Life: Pete reflects on his childhood experiences, including the impact of his parents' divorce and his close relationship with his grandmother.
Mental Health and Vulnerability
- Challenges with Self-Worth: Discussion on Pete's struggle with feelings of inadequacy, stemming from his childhood and the pressures of fame.
- Dealing with Grief: The conversation delves into the loss of Pete's grandmother and its lasting emotional impact, highlighting the importance of processing grief and allowing oneself to feel.
The Reality of Fame
- Public Scrutiny: Pete recounts the backlash he faced following a highly publicized cheating scandal, including receiving death threats and public hatred.
- Life Behind the Camera: The contrast between Pete's public persona and his private self emerges, highlighting the challenges of maintaining authenticity in the reality television landscape.
The Importance of Bonds and Support
- Friendship with Sam Thompson: Pete emphasizes the value of strong friendships, particularly with Sam, and how they support each other through the complexities of their lives.
- Men's Mental Health: Acknowledgment of the loneliness epidemic, particularly among men, and the societal pressures that hinder vulnerability.
The Journey Ahead
- Pursuit of Happiness: Pete expresses his desire to find happiness and self-acceptance, committing to personal growth and the affirmation work that Paul encourages.
- Future Prospects: Insight into his plans for new projects, including a production company with Sam, focusing on authenticity and creativity in their work.
Key Takeaways
- Healing Through Vulnerability: Acknowledging one's feelings and allowing for vulnerability is crucial for personal growth and healing.
- The Role of Animals in Mental Health: Pets can provide significant emotional support and companionship, helping alleviate feelings of loneliness.
- Self-Acceptance: The journey to feeling "enough" is ongoing and deeply personal; it requires understanding oneself and asking for help when needed.
Closing Thoughts The episode concludes with a heartfelt discussion on the importance of love and support, both from friends and oneself, as vital components in the journey toward happiness and fulfillment.
Additional Resources
- Support Links: List of charities and resources for mental health support is provided throughout the episode.
- Follow Pete Wicks: Links to his social media and projects are shared for listeners interested in connecting further.
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This summary encapsulates the profound conversations had during the episode, emphasizing the importance of addressing mental health, vulnerability, and the journey towards self-acceptance within the framework of fame and personal relationships.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Experian is your big financial friend, helping you explore credit card offers with confidence. Some cards are labeled no ding decline, which means if you're not approved, they won't hurt your credit scores. See Experian.com for details. Applying for cards labeled no ding decline won't hurt your credit scores if you aren't initially approved.
0:20You like this. I wrote, do you consider Pete Wicks to be famous and popular? But ChatGPT won't just say yes or no. It will give full analysis as to yes or no. and came back. He's famous and popular, and here's the reason why. And it points to all of these reasons. You know one of the reasons it used? Go on. It was like, Pete's not considered a great dancer. I know I fucks me over every time. However, the fact that he continually was voted to be kept and strictly is an illustration, is a data point to show that people adore him. People like him because there's famous, famous is being recognized, but popularity is being liked.
1:12Can't argue with GBT. Well, I mean, I can argue with AI because, again, Chris McCausland, when he came up, he uses AI because he can't see. So he uses AI, takes pictures, and then he describes everything for him in the picture, but to the minor detail. So he can take a picture, he can describe you, what you're wearing, everything that's around. And his AI told him that I was in my early 40s. So, because he said, how old do you think he is? And he went, this man is in his early 40s. And I was like, you fucking prick. What an absolute, I don't trust AI at all now. Fuck AI. Oh, my God. That's fair.
1:44That's fair. I don't know what AI he was using. Yeah, well, there was a problem with it. There was a malfunction, I think, in the 40s. Oh, my God. So, we're very proud of the podcast, this show that we've put together. Very, very proud. and after a few weeks of starting the show we went out to the audience on every platform and asked them out of all of the guests in the world there's eight billion people in this world right out of all of the guests who would you most like to see on the pod number two was my wife completely out of the sandal, Joe. Yeah. Yeah. So actually, I'll tell you. Has he been on?
2:27No. Oh, that would be an interesting one. Yeah. So it was number three was Stephen Bartlett. Yeah. Number two was my wife. Mm-hmm. And number one was Pete Wicks. Oh, why? Have you said this to every guest? Come on. If I look back at the episodes, are you going to say this to every guest? Not at all. Not at all. Now, you think about that. Out of everyone in the world that our audience could have had, they wanted you on. Why do you think that is? Honestly, I have no idea. I genuinely don't. What demographic of people were you asking? Good question. Predominantly women. I'd say about 70 % women. I thought you were going to say 70 years old.
3:13Understandable. Completely get it. Completely get it now. No, it was actually a bit rough for the older group. yeah they were actually about 100 yeah yeah about 100 120 uh but no i would say 70 percent women probably between the ages of about 34 and 44 okay on on average uh uk and us based yeah i've got no idea i like it still baffles me now why anyone would be interested in me or anything that i do and I've kind of been in the public eye for what, 12, is it 11, 12 years or something? Since 2015. There you go, there you go. And I have got no idea, you really have done your research up here. If you start sprouting dates with me, I'm not going to be able to confirm what did I because I can't remember what I did last week.
3:59Oh yeah, I have a lot of dates. But yeah, I still can't understand why, you know, a decade or so past that, I'm still about. Okay, all right, fair enough, fair enough. well, I think that as we go through this discussion, you're going to, and I'll pull some of the reasons why I believe that the audience is intrigued. But then on top of the audience being intrigued, I'm intrigued. Because one litmus test that a lot of people don't realize with the show is that we have a whole team and we discuss guests. But unless I am uberly curious about the guest, I'll just say, I'll just take a pass. because I will spend hours, 20 hours or more, in the research on the guest.
4:47So I'm like, if I'm going to commit that much of my life to somebody. You are a very methodical person. I know that. I've known you for quite a long time. And do you know what this is? Doing this show is probably one. I've done quite a few podcasts, and I've got podcasts and whatever else. Probably the most uneasy doing yours out of any podcast I've ever done. Why? So based on the fact that I do know you, I love you, you know that, but you have a really weird way of drawing things out of people they don't want to talk about. Fair. Or they think they don't want to talk about. Fair. Not that they don't want to talk about, they think they don't want to talk about.
5:26You're very hard to get rid of. And I mean that in the nicest way. I'm a pest. I'm a nice pest. Yeah, you're a lovely pest. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I always think, so in my research, one of one of the best interviews i think i've seen you do it was fascinating because in the interview you said the the guest or the the the host asked you how honest have you been with me and you were like mostly right so here's my ask here's my ask yes this is this is big is my ask is that you are 100 % with me. A hundred. Okay. And if there's a topic or category that you don't want to talk about, you just say, I don't want to, and we will pass right over it.
6:10Okay. But whatever we're talking about, that you're just a hundred with me. Okay. And my commitment to you is, I'm going to be a hundred back to you. Okay. Fair? All right, fair. All right. So here's where I love to really, really start. Okay. I want to start about love. Oh, fuck. Fuck. I want to talk about the things that you and I have in common that we love. Okay. Because I think we appreciate, we adore beauty. Don't we, Pete? Absolutely. We adore style. Mm-hmm. I think. By the way, I think you are the best dressed person on television. Really? Yes, I do. You are meticulous in what you put together, and it's always on point.
6:55I've never seen you off. and I've seen a lot of people off. I mean, and you've seen me on Slips God Dakin as well and there were some funky outfits on there, brother, as well. You know what I mean? Wow. But you've never been off. So I think we appreciate that. We appreciate reality TV because we have to. Yeah. But we adore dogs. Yes. Yeah. Why do you adore dogs so much? I'll tell you why I do. For me, it's because it's probably the only time that I feel completely safe and completely content. Based on the fact that I think dogs are angels. Angels on earth, as far as I'm concerned. They calm me.
7:41When I'm with dogs and animals in general, but specifically dogs, I'm not really thinking about anything else. It's like a break away from reality. because I think, you know, reality is tough for a lot of people at times. Don't get me wrong, there's amazing, you know, parts of life, but dogs, whenever I'm with dogs, I feel happy. They don't care where you've been. They don't judge you. They don't really want anything from you other than love. And what they give you in return is that tenfold. Yes. And I think that's really special. It's one of the only experiences of unconditional love that I think I've ever been a part of.
8:15And that's not even just dogs that I know. That's any dog. You can see it through their eyes. I think they're very easy to read. They're very black and white. They don't, you know, play games. They are what they are. It's interesting because, so I now have a dog. Peter Gabriel. Peter Gabriel. Reluctant. I was reluctant. I remember us discussing this. And I remember saying to you, no, no, no, you need to get in your dog. Yeah, you know, like the kids and you want a dog, blah, blah, blah. And I'm now, all I see is your obsession with this dog. The beautiful thing about dogs is they live for the moment.
8:45And that's what we don't do as people. Do you believe that your work, specifically with rescues, will that be your legacy? You know, I would love to be one of them people that has a legacy, whether or not I do or don't, I don't know. But for me, even pre kind of being in the public eye, I always did bits and bobs for animals, charities and other stuff. And it's not completely selfless. Everyone goes, oh, it's so lovely and whatever else. It's not completely selfless. I think it's very hard to find completely selfless acts in the world because it made me feel good but also because I felt like I was doing something worthwhile and it made me feel like I was doing things that made up for some of the shitty things that I've done in my life.
9:26But now that I've got a bit of a platform, it's enabled me to give a bit of a voice to the voiceless. And if I can, in one small way, help change the life of a dog that needs love and needs to feel safe, then I would do it. And that is something that I struggle, I've always struggled with being proud of myself, but that's something I would be proud of myself for. Yes. It's making a difference in some way. So the dogumentary, and I love it, it's a dogumentary. That's clever. Who did that? It's not me. No, no, no. It wasn't me, but I like it. Was that you then? No, I like it, but it wasn't me. It wasn't me.
10:05Dogumentary is so clever. for anyone who has not watched the documentary, what's the key reason why they should? Whether or not they are currently a dog parent or not. Education. That's what I would say the key reason for that. No one likes Animal Crossing. Unless you're a complete lunatic. Animal Crossing, everyone disagrees with us. But I think the biggest problem that we have is that people don't want to see that. People don't want to see the bad stuff. They only want to see puppies and the good stuff and all the rest of it. And when you look at what Dogs Trust, who I've done the show with, what they do and what the people behind the scenes go through in order to rehabilitate these animals and these dogs, when you see a little bit more about that and you see how you can help the education of an understanding of how tough it can be, I think there's still a stigma about rescue dogs.
11:00Yes, now, I mean, shelters are full to the brim because after COVID and lockdown, when everyone was working at home, Everyone, I'll get a dog. Yes, because I'm at home. And then they all go back to work. And then suddenly the dog is on his own at home and starts, you know, ripping up the sofa or whatever else. It's because he's not stimulating, he's frustrated. So they go straight into the shelter again. You know, no dog is born bad. It's the environment and it's kind of that nature versus nurture argument you have with people and everything else. And unfortunately, humans in general, I think, are a terrible species.
11:34And we do terrible things. and anyone that does terrible things to animals, I think, is the lowest of the low. Yeah. I really do. But what people don't really care about is the forgotten dogs. It's the dogs that don't get the love and don't get the support. When people go to a breeder or whatever else because they want a specific type of dog, there's nothing wrong with that. But there are so many dogs that just need love, and the education of what goes behind that is what this show is about for me, is what's happening behind the scenes, is what you can get from shelters breaking that kind of stigma.
12:09I haven't been taught how to approach a dog. Same with humans. You see a cute dog and you think, oh, I just want to go and pet it. But dogs are fearful. They can be frightened. They've got different personalities, the same as we do. They don't all appreciate being picked up and hugged continuously. Right. And I think it's understanding a dog's personality, and that's what this is about, is that every dog is different, but every dog is good. Yes. If this was, we were having this conversation three years ago before Peter Gabriel, I would have said, yeah, Pete, this is... But now, being a parent of a dog, I can see how my boys have changed.
12:47Literally, their responsibility, their engagement, you know, has changed as a result of us having this little Chihuahua. And do you know what the nicest thing that you've just done there is that you've said parent rather than owner? because it's one of my pet hates, excuse the pun, but is when people say they own an animal or, you know, it's just a pet. It's a family member. Completely it's a family. It's a sentient being that deserves love as much as anything else. And being a parent, that's exactly what it is. It's not owning something. You're not, you know, it's not an accessory. And I think the problem is social media is a big part of that.
13:27Social media is amazing. We all love social media, but also there's some really negative parts of that where people use animals, same as you get puppy mills and people that use them as breeding machines and businesses. And you get people that use their animals for financial purposes or whatever else, and that's fine. But I think more than anything, them being part of your family is what's important. and until you have a dog, you've been around animals. And it's not just dogs, all animals. I think it's a struggle for people to see that. People that don't have animals and don't have dogs kind of see it as, oh, you've got a pet.
14:03Right, right. I don't like that term. Yeah, it's different. But it's different. Did you grow up with dogs? I got my first rescue dog when I was 11. We had cats before that. And listen, I love cats, but I just... Cats are cats, I have. You know what I mean? Cats are... I love all animals, but, you know, no personality well they've got their own personalities but they're they're they're just a bit more aloof aren't they they're i i it's it's different um but yeah i i had wanted a dog ever since i was a kid yeah ever since i was a kid and then got our first rescue dog um when i was like 11 after just harassing my mum um to get one but i used to you know when i was a kid i used to have a wooden dog on wheels i used to pull around on a bit of string oh wow do you know what i mean and obviously you know it's me so it's not like it was a fluffy dog it was a bit wood do you know i mean the two things i played with as a kid was sticks and a wooden dog that was it that was that was it i don't know what i had a fascination i should have been like a lumber jack i just had a weird fascination with wooden things i like hard things um that didn't sound great but um yeah i was gonna go there when i said yeah i'll leave that yeah we'll leave that one but yeah and and then when i got um arnie who was the kind of first rescue dog that was it i was just obsessed.
15:20I love all sorts of just every dog and even breed specific. Breed specific dogs have different personality traits which I find fascinating. I'm a bit of a weirdo when it comes to dog breeds and learning about different dogs and trying to understand each dog individually but also understanding the background of what's breed specific to them and Frenchies they just kind of suit me. They're very stubborn. They're very funny. They've got so much character and I love that about them. I love that about them. I think you look like a Frenchie. I look like a Frenchie. Is this how we're going to start this podcast?
15:54Is this how we're going to start this podcast? We're going straight in with you look like a fucking Frenchie. What is it, the underbite? Is it miserable face? What is it? The slobbering? You said small body. I'll take that. I'll take it. No, no. I was going to run with this too because I remember on Celebs, we did this where he was like, someone said, because someone said, is it Pete's height? And I was like, do you realize he's not short? Do you realize he is well above average height, mate? It's a running joke for years. Everyone thinks I'm a fucking hobbit. And do you know what? It started years ago on Towie because everyone on Towie was six foot plus.
16:36My best mate on Towie was like six foot four. So I automatically were really short. So it became a thing where everyone thought I was about five foot five. Like I'm five foot 10. I'm a pretty normal height. That's what I'm saying. You're tall. You're actually tall because you're above average height and you're inches above average height. I still get in there. Me and Sam, but bear in mind Sam's shorter than me. Sam's about five foot eight. We still go out and they go, God, you're taller than Sam. But I think, how many times have you seen this together? I can clearly be taller and they still go to me.
17:05Oh, no, no, Sam's taller. I think, what the fuck are you looking at? It is so bizarre. It's so bizarre. But that makes sense, though. That's where they were associating. All right. Let's talk about Harlow. Is it Harlow? Yes. All right. I drove by Harlow, believe it or not, this past weekend. Okay. And this is a very obscure... When you say you were doing research, you weren't sort of in the bushes outside my house, we are. I'm starting to get a bit freaked out now. I've not seen you for a little while, and I didn't realize things have changed. Something's happened. I was out there interviewing people.
17:38Yeah, yeah. Describe it for anyone who has not been there. How would you describe it? Um, it is like an Essex town. There's good parts and bad parts to Harlow. The same is like in any place, but it's fairly green on kind of the outskirts where I live. But it's a pretty run-of-the-mill English town, I think. There's nothing really outstanding about it. I think, I might be wrong here, but fibre optics, there's a thing about Harlow, and I don't know what the fact is, but I'm sure fiber optics were first made in Harlow. Really? Yeah. Look at that. That's its only claim to fame. Fiber optics? Fiber optics.
18:21Other than that, it's fuck all there. No, it's a nice enough, just kind of a pretty normal town. Town, okay. So what I've learned now being a resident of the glorious UK is that with these towns is that they're very intimate. Everyone knows each other in the town. you know each other's business etc and you were either a family who is quiet you keep to yourself or you participate socially and it seems like growing up your family was the social place we got well i i can't i didn't grow up in harlow i grew up um sort of around london and all that sort of because all my family are from kind of london so we moved out to um kind of the country and Essex and moved around a little bit as I was kind of growing up.
19:09And then my mum settled in Harlow when she divorced my dad. Oh, interesting. Yeah, but so pre that, very social. Like my dad was very, very sociable and my mum, they always had different people around, but it was never necessarily the area. It was always friends and family that were coming over and all sorts of stuff. And then when my mum moved to Harlow, I've never really been in and around Harlow. I'm quite a private person, funnily enough, which I think people always find strange considering how I started on TV doing tailing and the rest of it. And my mum is very similar. So really in Harnel, I don't really know a lot, but I don't really go out in Essex.
19:51So when you grew up, when you were born, it was in London? Yeah. So we lived in like Islind, Erne, and then like all around those sort of areas, and East London, and then moved out towards Epping. So in the early time before Harlow, your parents were together. How would you describe your household?
20:13Busy. Busy. And weirdly enough, I was always one of them kids that I was very independent. So I was always out. I was always out doing saying. I wasn't one of them kids that would stay at home and I was out. I was with friends. I was doing stuff. But my mum and dad were very sociable when I was younger. I know they used to have lots of people over and I would always kind of be the kid that would be sat in the corner with the adults. I didn't really play with the kids. I liked to do my own thing. Or I'd be with adults. I wasn't one of them kids that go with all the other kids and I don't know, whatever kids do.
20:45I had quite a kind of a happy childhood, really. It was pretty, I would say normal. I don't know what normal is, but a normal childhood. So when you look back, the emotion, because I know you've done a lot of work on emotion. Try it. Yes. The emotion when you look back early days was what?
21:10Do you know what? Because we've spoken about this before, you and I, like, you know, years ago about trying to identify emotions and whatever else. And childhood is probably something I still struggle to do. it wasn't bad but I don't remember a lot of it and I don't know whether that's because I've kind of blocked a lot of it out but I just don't remember a lot of it I think happy it was and it's not an emotion but it was fine you know I don't remember anything bad really happening like it was just quite a nice normal kind of childhood but yeah okay this is fair So this is something that we've touched on to in the past, and this is something that I talk to a lot of our guests about, is that when you think about the person who you first felt love from, because it could be any type of caregiver, who was that?
22:08My nan. So it wasn't mom. It wasn't dad. It wasn't anyone. It was your nan. It was, like, my mum was, my mum's just, she was, she's one of them people that was born to be a mum. My mum's amazing. Love my mum. But I had an obsession, and I would call it an obsession with my nan from early, from as early as I can remember, I just had an unusual obsession with my nan. What do you think it was? I and this is going to sound weird but it's a similar feeling that I've always got from dogs that I got from my nan was just unconditional I was just happy around her as young as I can remember I just loved being around my nan not for any other reason even just sitting doing nothing I felt good being around her I don't know what it is it's almost like entering just a bubble and I just felt like I was in a bubble with my man any time I was with her and I felt like that up until up until the day she died Would a would a fair word to describe how you felt did you feel safe?
23:18Yeah 100 % 100 % Was there anyone else that you felt safe with at that time? Yeah my mum I did feel safe with my mum when I was growing up you know I didn't have a bad relationship with my dad but I was I was I spent a lot of my childhood, I was very sporty as a kid, which I think people would probably find it's quite hard to believe now, but so my dad was kind of the person that I would always do sports things, when he comes to the football games, rugby games and swimming and running and everything, and it was always to try and make him proud, and my mum was just a very mumsy type person and I loved being around my mum, but literally from as early as I can remember, it was my nan, I would go and spend summer holidays and time off rather than being that we've kind of mates and whatever else I'd rather go and spend there playing cards with my nan from seven years old.
24:17That's it. Yeah, it's fascinating. I just wanted to be around her all the time. You know, now that I have children, I look at how my parents, who are now the grandparents for my boys, I can see how their relationship is much different with me than it is with them. And it's hard to describe. It feels like it's a softer touch. But there's almost even a deeper love almost. That's in that I don't feel love for my parents, but there's that unconditional. You know, with my parents, I often think, wow, there are things that I can do that will severely disappoint them. Yeah. But with my grandparents who have passed, I felt like there's nothing you can do to disappoint your grandparents.
25:05Yeah. Were you close with your grandparents? Yes. Yeah. And I don't know what it is about grandparents. I don't know what it is, but I feel like a lot of people have the same sort of thing. You know, I think a lot of people really enjoyed being around their grandparents. Maybe it is because it's a softer touch and because your grandparents maybe don't discipline you like your mum and dad do. Right. Maybe that's what it is. You kind of get it. It's like good cop, bad cop sometimes, isn't it? But for me, it wasn't even necessarily about that. I just felt like she was my best friend from when I was a child up until the day she died.
25:39I was fortunate enough for her to be my nan, but I chose for her to be my best friend. And that's what I'm most blessed for, is that first and foremost, I saw her as my best friend more than I did my nan. Yeah, I think that relationship is so special. And I can see how important it was, especially early on, because your parents had a divorce. Yeah. Now, talk to me about this divorce, because when we've when I say we've talked previously, I mean, we've been on you've been on Celebs Good Dating, I joke, 56 times. Yeah. Maybe it's 57. Yeah. Yeah. But in these, we've had many discussions, but I don't think that we've fully unpacked this.
26:16Yeah. It was...
26:24Again, I've kind of been asked this before, and even when I wrote the book, trying to describe how I felt all the time is very difficult because I think I've got a very good way of blocking things out and not really remembering much about periods of my life that I don't want to remember much about. Yes. but yeah I just remember it being quite a shock at the time and my dad pretty much from the moment the house was sold my dad left and we kind of saw each other at weekends and whatever else and then that kind of dwindled out and I think I blamed my mum quite a lot at the time and I just remember it being a really confusing time at periods that I had not really been confused before.
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27:13There's lots of reasons why people do things and whatever else, and, you know, that's no judgment on my mum's part at all. But at the time, I found that very hard to deal with, that my dad kind of wasn't there, and then Tony was. And I think, probably selfishly, I don't remember how tough it was for them until now kind of looking back and reflecting on it. because I think sometimes you think, well, how the fuck could they do that to me? It wasn't about me, right? I mean, it was their relationship that broke down for all sorts of different reasons, which is not my position to talk about, but that's really tough for two people that had been married for 20 odd years.
27:53Without question, it was a very different relationship I had with my dad because my dad was not, I wouldn't say like a really lovey-dovey dad. He was like a dad-dad. I respected him. I admired him. I looked up to him more than anyone and probably felt like he probably couldn't give me what I needed or whatever else. But, you know, and, you know, obviously the logistics of that sort of stuff is very different, you know. He moved kind of away and whatever else. It would have been a complete upheat while I was in school and doing, you know what I mean, that's... You were 11 at the time? You're living in the household with your mother.
28:27Yeah, and Tony. And Tony, right. So you're mad at the world. would you say that this is where this feeling of not feeling enough is is this where it begins um
28:51yeah probably probably if you kind of look at it but i don't you know i don't blame my dad for that and I don't blame anyone else for the way I feel or the way I feel. I think I'd always as I was kind of growing up, you know, and I don't mean this in kind of an arrogant way but I was always very good at things so I was always, you know, captain of the football team this, that and the other. I was very good and you know, I always wanted to be better. I was very competitive. I was I felt like I was in control I think a lot. I think I was born a control freak um and then i think this period of my life i felt completely out of control and i didn't feel like i was the best son in the world i didn't feel like i was enough for for anyone to want to stick around and that i think i felt very confusing from going to being the person that everyone wanted in the team or everyone wanted here or everyone wanted and then suddenly i just felt like no one wanted me at all especially the ones that you love the most yeah yeah yeah completely yeah it was yeah and i think sometimes you don't especially when you're that age you kind of don't realize how much you love your parents they're just there aren't they you know i mean like when you're kind of in that kind of young stage your parents are the ones that you know they look after and they pick up your stuff and they do this and they take you there and they're always there but i don't think i ever really thought about how much i needed them or loved them they would just facilitate everything that was happening it was great right and i love being around them because you never think that's going to stop and then when they're not you suddenly go fuck right you know does that make sense it makes entire sense and what i'm getting a visual of what life was like for you in that moment, especially because one thing I did know, and I'm so glad that you mentioned this, is this whole notion of you were excelling outside of that sports.
30:54You were probably well-liked. I'm sure you were well-liked. Yeah, I was all right. Yeah, so you're always being selected. You're always being picked. You're always being chosen, but yet you go home and you don't feel like you are being chosen. Now, this is one where there's many definitions of love. But when you look back to 11-year-old Pete, do you feel as if your parents loved you?
31:27Yes. Yeah.
31:32Yeah, I do. I never felt unloved. I wouldn't disrespect them enough. to it like I never felt unloved I just think I was
31:49just not enough there's a difference to you know and and certain things happened around the time with my mum which I spoke about in the book as well which um
32:02probably had a massive effect on who I am now. And it's not that I didn't feel like I was loved by my dad or my mum. I just felt like I was maybe in the way. And I didn't understand... Because this is... See, it's quite a difficult thing when you kind of look back on it because reflecting, I never felt unloved. but maybe at the time I did feel unloved. But when you look back and reflect, I just feel like they both had their own struggles at the time that needed more attention than I potentially did. And maybe I felt like an afterthought. And that's, again, because they were both really, really struggling.
32:45They were both really struggling. But at the time, I didn't know that. I didn't understand that. So for me, it probably did feel like I was unloved. But I don't think I actually was. And that's fair because you're looking at it from the adult. Yeah. The time. Yeah, I'll probably use it from an unloved time. Yeah. And so at that time, you wrote about this in the book. We don't have to explore it if you want to, but I think this is one of those where I didn't know, you know? And I can, I mean, clearly, this is an incident that happened, I think you were 12 years old. We can, yeah, we can talk about it because, you know, I wrote about it in the book and my mum is very open now.
33:22and I wouldn't have wrote the book if it wasn't for her consent and this is why she is my hero and my idol because she came from the depths of the darkest place she could be to be the person she is now. But, yeah, she tried to take her own life because at the time it was just a very big upheaval. My mum and dad were together for a very long time, you know, since they were kids. And, you know, all sorts of things went on with them which are kind of mad stories of first love and all sorts of stuff. There's all sorts of different reasons why people do things and things happen. But she found it very, very tough.
34:01And my mum had struggled with kind of depression and alcoholism for a lot of her life since she was young. She didn't have the best time. And it got too much for her. And it got too much for her. And, yeah, she tried to take her own life one night and I found her. She'd slit her wrists at the table.
34:24and yeah that was that was yeah it was tough you you you wrote about this because when you reflect back there was thought you you thought well i wasn't enough yeah once again yeah when you think back now as the adult pete you know she she was dealing with a lot yeah i had no idea the pain she was in when you think back now and you're analyzing that situation what is what are you thinking about yourself and your relationship with your mother at that point
35:06i i felt like i was responsible um and yeah i didn't feel like i was enough i didn't feel like me being there was enough for her to want to be there.
35:24And I did feel responsible, the circumstances around what happened.
35:32I could have stopped it. I should have. You think you could have stopped it? Yeah. How so? Because I knew, you know, despite being that young, I knew she was drinking and I knew that she wasn't in a good place. She was very upset that the night that happened and she told me she was going to be fine. And I went to my room and I could hear her crying and I stayed in that room. And then when I went down, she'd still have rest. If I hadn't stayed, then maybe I could have stopped her. You think that to this day? 100%. So, but, you know, it's, yeah, it was a tough time. That was a tough time. But the fact that you have held this with you and you blame yourself for this, this is what we have to focus on.
36:40because you're 12 years old. She told you to go to your room. Yeah, 12. Your child. Your child.
36:52But I understood something was wrong. I didn't know what and I didn't know, but I understood something was wrong and if I had been braver and, yeah, then I could have stopped it. Okay. I have a lot to say on this. I'm going to hold it because already what I've seen you do is you blamed yourself for this, you know, terrible, terrible incident that's happened. You blamed yourself for the breakup, right, of your parents. And you've placed all of this blame on this 12-year-old boy. So the fact that you then go off, what, at 15? Is that when you get the never enough? Tattoo? Yeah. At 15. Yeah. I need to know.
37:44That was just to get into nightclubs, I probably don't know. Oh, that's always? Well, I mean, that's initially why I got a tattoo, yeah. I didn't really understand why I got Never Enough, to be honest with you. But obviously looking back, I think, yeah. You know, I think that our subconscious is powerful. Like our conscious is one thing, but we do have a subconscious. And at that point, at 15, for you to say, I'm going to get this tat of never enough. That is profound. It's profound. So you get the tat, never enough. I'm curious, what would have been enough at that age? Because you didn't feel like you were enough.
38:33what would have felt like? What would life's circumstances or situation needed to be at that point to feel like enough? I don't know. I don't know what. I just felt like I wish I'd been able to lose their pain and I wish I'd been able to not fix them being back together because it was the right thing that they weren't together. But I just feel like if I'd have been them more for them if I'd have been there not just as a son but as a friend just someone I just wish to be in that you know as darker place as what my mum was and you know even my dad having to leave and whatever else if if they'd have felt like someone was there then maybe things could have been different you know maybe maybe things could have been different and and obviously I I didn't put myself in a position where they felt like I was there or I was enough to help.
39:40Okay. Okay. When we're young, we see the world through a lens of responsibility, believing we have the power to stop the unthinkable if only we'd done more. Pete's story reveals the weight of misplaced blame carried by a child who couldn't have been expected to fix what was broken. The truth is, no child can hold together the unraveling threads of an adult's pain. Healing begins when we stop judging our younger selves by adult standards. The child Pete was enough. He was loving, present, and brave in ways he couldn't see then. For anyone carrying guilt from a moment they couldn't control, let me tell you this, it was never your job to fix it.
40:26And it's always your right to let go of that burden. How did you feeling this way about yourself, how did that impact your early relationships?
40:42In what friendships, relationships, you know, it's a great question. All relationships. All relationships.
40:52I think I have selfishly been in control of a lot of my relationships based on the fact that, and again, I don't mean this in like a knobhead way, but I've never found it difficult to talk to people or to find out about people. Like, I love finding out about people, meeting new people. I've never struggled with the meeting of people, whether that be friends anywhere or relationships or anything else. but I've always been in control of the fact that I've always left before someone leaves me point blank and that you know as soon as anything gets a little bit too close I I I pull back from but I think I've always wanted to be around people but at my
41:37comfortability yes you know I'm I've I've been very independent my whole life and I enjoy being on my own and I like to be on my own but also I'm quite a sociable person I'm I know it's a really cliche thing that was it the extroverted introvert or whatever they call it. Ambient vert. Yeah. So I like to be around people, but I love to be on my own and I love to have it at my arm's length. So you're introverted, but you're confident. Yeah. You're not shy. No, no, I was never shy. I mean, like even as a child, my mom, like she could just take me in and just drop me off and I'd just be crack on. And then you're full of, and I've always been like that.
42:15So with romantic relationships early on, when do you start dating? 15, 15, 13, young. Right with the tat. The tattoo came. Yeah, the tattoo came and that was it. But also I looked about 45 when I was 12. So I was one of them, do you know what I mean? Like I had sort of a milky tash at six. So yeah, I always looked a little bit older. And I worked from a really young age. I worked in a hotel from like the age of 14. you know doing glass collecting on a bar so and because I think I wasn't your average 14 year old in terms of I liked being around older people I used to go to pubs and and whatever else with all the guys that worked on the bar who were like 18 19 years old and because I looked like an I'm sort of like Benjamin Button apart from I'm not getting younger as I get older I just look old junk so i used to be around a lot of older people anyway so um so yeah the kind of the relationships and and being out and meeting girls and whatever else happened quite young for me so i would imagine a 14 15 year old pete hanging out with these 18 19 20 year old men right probably had relationships with women who were much older as well yeah yeah i didn't yeah how much older i I mean, not in a weird way, but certainly when I was kind of 17, 18, I wasn't a very good lad when it came to women, I'd say.
43:53You know, I was out a lot. I was going to different places. There were people that were kind of older than me as well. You know, I was seeing people in their 30s and 40s at 19, 20. okay um but can i ask why is that not being a good person because i i i think i hurt a lot of people i think i hurt a lot of people because i you know i was seeing multiple people and i was a bit of a boy and and whatever else and that you know that's not particularly nice ways to to treat people and And, you know, I did that a lot, kind of, when I was younger. Okay. Did that a lot. Okay. So you, even to this day, right, I can see it.
44:43It's waiting on you where you feel as if I was not, like, I am to blame for all of these things that have happened. Right. I'm the blame. I'm like, I'm the common denominator among all of this crap. Right. Right. If you go back to, let's go back to now you're, what, you're 15, you said you're 19 or so. Yeah. And you're seeing multiple people, multiple women. Some of them are, you said, 30, 40 years old. Okay. They have feelings, but you're just whatever, right? You're living that life. This is right around the time when you are a career, you're on track to be a career professional, not reality TV.
45:24No, no, no, no. And I think this is also a very important part of your story that doesn't get enough attention. Because you had a job before all this. Yeah. Yeah, I had a few different jobs. When I left school, I'm not a particularly educated person. I left school. I didn't go to college or uni or anything like that. But I wasn't a donor. And I just wanted to earn money. My mum at the time didn't have a lot of money. And, you know, that's when, that's where I started work from, like, you know, I was doing two, three paper rounds from 12, like, just to earn money so that I could give my mum. I was paying my mum money from, like, 12, 13 just to be able to help and just be able to do something because I wanted to do my own shit.
46:14So I wanted to earn money. And I thought, well, I'll become an accountant because I'm good with numbers. It can't be that hard. They seem to earn a fair bit of dough. Okay. happy days so i just i got my mum when i was like 15 to drive me i'd researched every accountancy place within five miles of where i lived and got her to drive me around and drop a cv off to every single one and one called me back and i became an accountant for a little while then hated it for 18 months i did like the first year's aat and whatever else they had to do it as a night school thing uh hated it because it felt like date your entry because you're just putting numbers in and then does it for you and i didn't feel like i was doing anything and then someone that i know had a recruiting company and they said why don't you give this a go and i was like yeah fuck it we'll get that a go up the city you get to wear a nice suit and i was basically a t-boy okay you know yeah and that was but it was nice because i'd be in london and you know i mean i'll get to wear a suit and london with like there was loads going on at the time and you're kind of in that environment um and then i i just seemed to be all right i got given a chance to run a little desk for a little bit and it it went a bit mad for me and yeah things kicked off and then by the time i was kind of 2021 i was earning very good money for someone of that age with you know because i did it was just something i was all right because recruitment is effectively sales yeah and uh sales isn't necessarily about the product it's selling yourself yes um you know it's the same it's like nlp neuro-linguistic program it's the same sort of crap you know you can make people do whatever you want them to do if they believe it's their idea and all that sort of stuff and that just was just something which is sad because it's a form of manipulation really if you use it in a terrible way but but actually it's just understanding people and understanding yourself and making people buy into who you are.
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50:05okay so then at that age to say early 20s yeah you're in sales you're earning great money you're wearing your suit you're working in london uh you you have lots of relationships i'm assuming at this point oh yeah what's the vision for your life um the vision for my life was just to be successful but how would you define success well that was the problem is i defined success back then as money and actually it's only when you start to get a bit of money you realize it doesn't make you happy right at all and then what your idea of success becomes is lost because then I don't know what success is and certainly you know I had friends and and whatever else that were looking at I was earning good money a nice car I had nice this and other people were kind of was going and go, what a life.
50:57But being in it, I didn't feel like I had a life at all. So even at that point, you felt lost in your life. So then how do you go from this space of feeling lost to then reality television? Fuck me, that's a question.
51:18That's exactly it, being lost. I had no idea. I'd never watched TOWIE. I'd never watched the reality TV. I didn't really have social media when I did that. I was just doing my thing. And, you know, but I was also in a position where I think I'd have been, if I'd have carried on doing what I was doing, I'd have burnt out. You know, I was doing really, really heavy days. At the time, I was running different divisions, had a lot of different people working for me in different places. And it was a lot. I was doing 16 kind of hour days and then going out straight after and then going straight into the office the next day.
51:49I was in that world of burning the candle at both ends. And, you know, I'd been doing that for about five years, heavily. Okay. And I was tired. But I didn't know how to... It was like a circle, like a weird thing. And then someone I knew was on TOWIE and I was in Marbella and they sort of said, why don't you come and give it a go? And I was like, fuck it, yeah, go on. Did one scene and I was pissed during the scene because I just didn't really think anything of it. And it just went mad because back then on reality TV, there was only really three. There was only like Taui, Geordie Shore and Made in Chelsea.
52:33There was no Love Island. There was no kind of, you know, there's a reality show for everything now. Right, right. Back then in the UK, there was just three. So it was quite big back then. But there was no one in any one of those shows that looked the way I did in terms of I had long hair at that point. I had like a beard at that point. I was quite heavily tattooed at that point. So I think when people were like, what the fuck is this bloke on telly about? There wasn't loads of people that kind of looked like a washed up old pirate on television. So I think people were like, I didn't look like your typical kind of slick Rick side part in Martin from Essex.
53:12Right. And I think people just were a bit mystified by it. I thought I'd do literally the Marbella episodes, which was like two episodes whilst I was in Marbella because I was there anyway, and then that'd be it. But it turned out to be how many years? Seven, six, seven. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All seven years. Seven. Of this show, and to the point where you said there was only three shows at the time. Yeah, when it started there. In the research, this is the New York Times said that TOWIE, this is right before you joined, right? TOWIE was the most talked about show in the UK. The most talked about show in the UK.
53:55I remember we had Lauren Goodger on talking about the BAFTA. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that was pre-BAFTA. I never wanted a BAFTA after I joined. You ruined it. Absolutely. Listen, if you can allow one person to take the fucking tone down, it's going to be Pete Wicks. Oh, my God. But you think about the show, not just in terms of pop culture, but also in terms of viewership. Yeah. You know, the viewership was, I think it was like consolidated well, like in the millions. Millions. Yeah, yeah, completely. It was massive. It was massive, but I knew nothing about it because it wasn't my, I was always out and doing whatever else.
54:33People always say to me like, because I've done reality TV before, oh, you love reality TV. I don't. I cannot, I couldn't think of anything worse to watch than reality TV. I don't watch any. Never watched myself, never watched Love Island, never watched anything, never even watched Slebs Go Dating when we did it. Never watched one episode. I don't watch anything like that. I watch serial killers and documentaries. That's pretty much all I do. So I never really understood the fascination with TOWIE and whatever else. And it's only as I've got older and spoken to people that you realise it's a break from their own lives and that's what it is.
55:04Yes. That's what people love reality TV for. They do. It's a voyeuristic way of looking at real people. Real people. But see, I think that's the debate, right? It's like, okay, it's real people, but are they doing real things? Is it, like, are the relationships real? So you think about your romantic relationships played out across TOWIE. Fucking did they. Now, some people would ask, were those real? They were real. Yeah, of course they were. I mean, reality TV then to now is very different. Yes. because we didn't really, it wasn't like it was a kind of a career thing back then. It was kind of this is what you do, but it was very much more authentic and very much, it was just more real back then than what it is now.
55:54A lot of people now want to be the next version of something they've seen before and a lot of people don't go into it as themselves. Now, I always said at the beginning, I didn't know what I was getting into, so I was just myself. and I made a million mistakes and they played out all across the UK for millions of people. But everything I did then and everything I've done on TV, I've done as me. It's been a version of me, which has slowly become a version of me, the older I've got. But back then, it was just me laid bare. And then it got so wild that I became a caricature of who I am. Interesting.
56:32Was it a depiction that became the caricature or do you feel like you became the caricature? It was what I allowed people to see me as became the caricature. I was still me, but in private. And I became very private about everything because I think I gave too much at the beginning. You know, I had quite a high-profile relationship at the time with Megan, who you know. and all the stuff around that, that was real. Me and Megan knew each other. You know, she came onto the show because we'd been on a date. We'd been on a couple of dates and then suddenly she joined the show. Okay. And we were literally, so everyone watched us from right at the beginning of kind of dating, the ups, downs, the everything.
57:24But it was all pretty much on TV. like the upstands of everything but it was heightened and it was it was it was you know the bits that were kind of edited and shown on on a show were very dramatic right but it was a very dramatic relationship anyway but i'd never had that before i'd never really been part of that like and it was just a very mad wild time so with that playing out so many people watching it you were a relationship with megan in particular at that time that's one of the first time you know people are seeing something like this ever in their lives when the the breakup happens and i guess ultimately it was you yeah completely yeah you cheated yeah when that happened what was the reaction to you in the public side oh i mean i i i I have never experienced...
58:32I mean, it's really hard when I look back on it to think about how bad it was because at the time, you're so caught up in it. I was going through a breakup with Megan that everyone kind of knew the ins and outs of. It was laid out bare. I was getting death threats daily. Death threats? I was fully fully death threats I had people spit at me in the streets I had people send me videos of the dolls they'd made hanging from trees that they were burning like burning effigies I had a lot at the time it was I felt like I was a national hate figure like public enemy number one but all I was bothered about was at the time was Megan and the fact that I'd kind of lost Megan and I'd upset her and and and I felt so guilty so so guilty um but with that on top I again I was just I was all over the shop but that it you know it is what it is and and the annoying thing is is people say you know if you're in the public eye you put yourself in for for this sort of stuff and completely you put yourself in a position where you know you allow people to make judgment and you allow people to have opinions but um you know even i've just done strictly i was getting death threats through strictly for still being in the competition because there were better dancers leaving and it does get to the point where yeah of course you put yourself in in in the position to for people to pass judgment i don't think anyone really deserves death threats and all the rest of it it does get a bit fucking silly but that was my first experience of it back then and then like now i kind of go and fucking was ridiculous but then yeah to get to get a death threat i mean yeah unfortunately i've received a death threat so so i i can i can empathize and sympathize with it the first time that it comes you you're thinking oh my god fucking hell do you know what i mean yeah and and don't get me wrong like i was in the wrong um and always held my hands up about that and but it's something that it was between kind of Megan and I and obviously we were on a show so then it became between Megan and I and the UK but um but I never meant to her and obviously I did but the death threats and everything else that comes from it you know people go through breakups and people you know cheat and do whatever else and it's fucking horrible and there's no right or wrong for it but the the attention that that got the me and megan kind of thing and what that brought with it i was just dumbfounded i i just what i didn't know what to do yeah i i can't imagine because at this point this is where you're you were you know notoriety across the uk is i mean it's it's it's it's everyone knows you Right.
1:01:30And you've now just broken up with the UK's darling. Yeah. Right. You're the bad guy. Yeah. So the press begins, right? The press begins and it's relentless. How do you think that that has impacted your relationships since then? Oh, I think it's made me very wary. Of the press. I was fully depressed, but it's made me also kind of wary of people. It's made me more private with enough, and I know I've done reality TV, but that's when I think from that point I became kind of two Peets. There's the Pete that is on TV, which is still Pete, and it's still me. I've always done everything as me, right, wrong, or whatever else, but then there's the very private me that my friends know and the people who know me not on a camera know.
1:02:31And that is... I mean, really, the difference between those two people, despite the fact that they're kind of the same, is that the one that is offscreen is soft as shit. But the impression that I gave across, well, I was, you know, pretty hard, miserable, it couldn't really affect me type thing because it became a lot easier for people to hate that person than it did for people to hate the kind of real me that was a bit more vulnerable. So the real Pete is vulnerable. Fucker. Yeah. Yeah. Real Pete is vulnerable. You're going through all of this, and I wrote down all of the reality shows that you've been across since 2015, and I saw that.
1:03:18Wow, because every show comes with a press run. It comes with press. It comes with this impression of who Pete is, which is this caricature, right? But then I thought, okay, but he gets to go home to his nan, who's the safe spot throughout all of this, right? You lost your nan in 2021.
1:03:42Now, in the car, actually, coming over here, I was talking to my guys, and I was like, What I find so, what I'm so sad about is that when you have someone who's always been your safety zone and they're no longer there for you, then who do you think you have? Think you have no one. So you become even more self-reliant. And if you're someone who's already started self-reliant, and this is you, right? Self-reliant. Then what does that do to your relationships? What does that do to your lifestyle? And I have some thoughts around this. But throughout this, Megan, the press, the press saying that he's, you wrote it in your book, all these things.
1:04:32He's this, this, this, that, right? It feels like your nan was, that was the person who you would always go back to. Yeah, 100%. and she knew that you were enough. She knew that you were enough. This is the part that I wanted to get to is that even at this point where you sit on the couch, do you feel like you're enough? No. Why?
1:05:07I think I am... And since I lost my nan, I have reflected a lot on all different parts of my life. And I think part of the reason for doing that is because I felt like I was stagnating in a position where I was still lost and I was still confused. And I've been, you know, since I was probably 12 for all the sorts of different reasons, which is why I've done so many different things and whatever else. and actually it got to the point where I thought when I lost my nan, I have no one. It's just going to be me and I don't want that. And part and parcel of doing the book and kind of where I am now is the fact that I don't feel like I'm enough.
1:05:57And it's about understanding why I don't feel like I'm enough and kind of understanding myself better and kind of trying to work that out and I still haven't managed to do that. I still haven't managed to work out why I feel that way. And I still haven't managed to work out what will make me feel like I ever am. But it's a process. It's a process that, you know, I'm kind of in the middle of, but I've done so many things wrong and I've let so many people down. But I don't know how to make that better.
1:06:34So, yeah. I have something that I believe can help you.
1:06:46I don't know if I've ever written a letter to anyone outside of my wife. I have this letter, and the top part is for you to read on another occasion. But I want you to read this letter, the bottom piece of it. Okay. Let's read it now. Yes.
1:07:25You want me to read that bottom, but yes. I honour her by being kind to myself when I fall short Patient as I grow And accepting of who I am with all my flaws In this way I keep her love alive I am enough just as I am
1:07:58there's more but do you know what this is
1:08:09the reason why I wrote this for you is because your nan loved you regardless this is what you said she loved you regardless it didn't matter the success it didn't matter the headline It didn't matter what people said. She loved you because of you. And in particular, what I've noticed about you, and I think that we all need to, as just human beings, we need to talk more about how we feel about others. but in particular when we talk about masculinity today, we have to talk more about men expressing their emotions to each other. And one thing that I do want to say, I want to make sure that this is loud and clear, is that I love you.
1:08:58I truly love you. And I've observed you for so many years. And I see that what you do for everyone else is that you are kind to everyone. But you are supportive with everyone and you are patient with everyone, with the exception of one person.
1:09:23You are kind, you are supportive, and you are patient with everyone but who? hey
1:09:37I see people the crew on these some of these reality shows right that we've done together and I remember we were in Dominican Republic and I bought you like 50 shots yeah right I think we drank half of them yeah we did you did it was the one not that you said to me that you were gonna drink yes Yeah, yes. Yeah. Yeah. 50 shots. Yeah. Yeah, you did drink. Yeah. Yeah, we went for it. We did. And I remember looking around because I'm, you know, super people watcher. I'm looking around. I'm like, I wonder what is it about this guy, Pete? What is it? What do people love about him? And it is because that, you know, you are supportive, kind, and patient regardless of the person's class, of their race, of their ethnicity, of their gender.
1:10:29you were always that person. And that's what people love about you. That's what I love about you. And so when I think about your Nan, that's what she loved about you. And she saw that early. She saw that before everyone else. And so how could you honor her? One way is the route that you're talking about. And that is, I need to figure out why I didn't do all these things in the past. I say, screw that. I say instead, just say every day I'm going to be patient, supportive, and kind to myself. And if you do that, that's honoring her to the highest. And that is what is going to allow you to be able to move from a place of not feeling enough or worthy to a place of, you know what, I am enough.
1:11:27so this is an affirmation that i would ask for you to do every day for the next 30 days minimum and it's hard to do this i've done this exact thing it's very hard you could do it because i know you're an overachiever so you could do it all the way up to 90 days but when you do this what you do is you begin to literally reprogram yourself. Because a question I have, and this is hard for me to ask it because I believe I know the answer, but I think we need to start at this place, is that today, are you happy?
1:12:07No. Okay. I don't feel like you are either, right? You're pleasant, right? You come, you smile, right? But are you happy? I don't know if, I don't believe you are. You're right, you're not. But where does happiness come from? There's all types of formulas around happiness, but most people say it's a 40, 10, 50 rule, right? 40 of it is genetic. So I'm Jamaican, Jamaicans are not happy. So even though everyone, you always see the Jamaicans smiling, no, go to Kingston, you'll see we're not happy. So it's like, but no, so 40 % of it is genetic. 10 % of it is circumstantial. It's like, okay, do I have money in my account?
1:12:50Am I going home to sleep in a house? Do I have those things? Do I relatively have health? That's the 10%. But the 50%, the greatest percentage is what we control. And how we control that is by doing the work. And this is the work. These exercises to help us to understand and appreciate who we are and why we are. and so this for me is critically critically important for you critically important i am i've never done anything like that before never done affirmations or anything like that but i said to you at the start of this i would be honest with you and do it 100 and for the first time in my life and i think you know if i say i'm gonna do something i'll do it yes then i will do that Yes, I will do that.
1:13:45Yes. I don't know what, you know, I'm quite skeptical about a lot of things, as you know, but I will do that because I trust you. and um you know you said it to me and and you know without this becoming some sort of weird loving i i love you as a person as well you know over the over the past however many years that we've kind of known each other you've always been someone that i've always felt easy or found it easy to talk to for different reasons and people saw little bits on celebs go dating and then i can see us sitting here and of course you've nearly made me cry because you're a fucking prick but aside from that we've spoken many times off camera and so I will do that for you but I will do that for myself okay thank you thank you all right I feel it see one thing people too is they don't realize about you you are a man of your word and you are hard you are such a hard worker right but you are someone of your word and I think this is something that goes against the public persona too, right?
1:14:54And I hope that through conversations like this and all the work that you're doing with the documentary, et cetera, that people will begin to build a new perspective on who you are. And I think part of that is us realizing that there are two Pete's and you're opening the door to vulnerable Pete. And this is actually who you are, supportive, you were kind, right? And you were patient. I was talking to different people and I said, like, what do you most want to know about Pete? Right. And I asked my mama, I said, mom, I mean, she's living in the States. I said, what would you most like to know about Pete?
1:15:42And do you know what the top question was? This is from mama. This is from all the folks. This is from ChatGPT. You know what it is? Go on. It is that one of our most popular episodes here was with someone, I don't know if you know her, her name is Maura Higgins. The name rings a bell. You've heard of her. Yeah, the name rings a bell. Okay, so she was on. Yeah. I mean, extraordinary story. Like, incredible, incredible person. And when I asked her, I said, okay, there's a whole lot of stuff being said, but we can't trust what is happening in terms of the media, what they're saying. So you tell us what's the relationship with you and Pete.
1:16:23So I would like to extend that same opportunity to you and ask you, what is your relationship with Mora? Mora and I have known each other for a long time now. Well, I say a long time, about six years. And you've met her, you've spent time with her. We have the same sense of humor. Yes. She's super intelligent. and I think you know that is sometimes something that people don't realize about Maura um she's incredibly witty and we have always been there for each other for for kind of the past six years um at a a distance um where we've always kind of been friends we've always kind of been there for each other and whatever else and and um that I mean it's different now we spend more time together now than we did before um and i think she's an incredible person she was very supportive to me when i was in strictly and vice versa when she was in the jungle um and um yeah she's a great person so my relationship with her is that i think she's a great person and i would hope that she thinks that i'm all right oh yeah she thinks you're a great person but the question is are you great together um oh i see where we're going with this always i mean it's very very very nicely done um look the thing is with me and more is is that like i said we have known each other for a long time and we have never kind of not got on we do spend more time together now than we have done before um and um as a person and and you'll know having having met her you know when people are around me and more it's it's it's quite fun because we've got a lot of similarities yes in so many ways there's so many similarities so she's a great person for to spend time with and And, yeah, we do spend time together.
1:18:09Okay. You know what? Out of respect, out of our respect, I'm going to leave it at that. I'm going to leave it at... I mean, you've got more out of that than anyone else has. Yeah, yeah. And I'm going to leave it at that. And I'm going to say that I like that for you. Yeah, like, it's one of them things like, you know, this is one of the kind of whole press thing and what people want. I'm at a different stage in my life now where the the points that kind of made me known which was always my relationship or the drama or this that and the other um and kind of the reality background is not something that I am really doing anymore right does that make sense and and and the reason I say that and and I'm very thankful to all of the things that I've done before.
1:19:03But now is the private me and the more vulnerable me is that I'm putting out one version of me. So that means that I have to protect a lot of parts of my life that I don't want everyone to be a part of. Right. And, you know, that comes to family and that comes to work things, you know, and it comes to friendships and everything else is, I no longer feel the need to have to give everyone that. Yes. Does that make sense? It does. And I think as you get older, that becomes important. And as you kind of navigate through this mad little industry, you start realizing that people are going to talk about what.
1:19:43They are. They're going to talk whether you say it or you don't say it. And you have to protect the ones and the things that you cherish the most. Yeah, it's much the same with, you know, everyone knows Sam Thompson is a very good friend of mine. And, you know, you know Sam very well. And, you know, Sam and I, we do so much work together. And, you know, people kind of think that everything we do is always on camera.
1:20:15But Sam and I share so much off of camera as well that I think people don't realise in terms of why he's my brother and why we have such a strong friendship is people kind of see what we do together and me being miserable and him being really fun and they think, are they like that in real life? And actually, you know us. We're not really like, I love him. He calls me three, four times a day. Yes. Just about the most ridiculous stuff. But we talk about everything and anything and that is a private part of a public relationship and it's a similar thing with almost everything I do is I've now decided that there's no longer going to be two Peets.
1:20:54There's just going to be Pete. Yeah. Because I can't function being two people anymore. I love this for you. Yeah. So now we just separate. So we're just Pete. We're just Pete. We're just Pete. We're just Pete. I have to say this on this. I know that Anna, our friend, Anna talks quite a bit about how we deserve credit for the Pete-Sam combo. The TV mum and dad. Yeah, we literally brought you two together. Yeah. But I will say that it is so special that it is a brotherhood. You talked about that. It's a brotherhood that you have with him. So it extends beyond television. Completely. And it is real.
1:21:38And you doing more of that real is so key. Yeah. I mean, this year in terms of career, like, you know, Sam and I have set up a production company. And, you know, the pod has been made. Last year we had a huge year with the pod. You know, we went on tour and did two sell-out tours and did the Apollo and the Palladium and mad stuff like that, which we never thought we'd do. But Sam and I are now having a little business together and we're working together on doing things because we want to create something in this kind of industry that we think is kind of missing. Yeah. And that is within the kind of part of the industry that we're in.
1:22:20What I think is massively missing is a little bit of authenticity because I think it's all become different. Manufactured. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and that's just two friends who are going to have a go at something and, you know, hopefully take some people along for the ride and build people up to be themselves rather than being the next thing that we've already seen. Right. And that is a massive issue with reality TV at the moment. And I've seen it too. There's so many people that I talk to and what they'll tell me, it's so fascinating. They'll say, you know, I've watched Pete Wick's career. They've watched your career.
1:22:57And I decided I wanted to do everything differently. Whatever he does. How not to do it, I'll do it that way, yeah. But actually, they'll say, no, he's done quite well. and as a result I want to do this so they'll begin to emulate the look they'll emulate the sound right and and literally you have people who are studying reality tv stars but I'm sure you've seen this and you've heard about this and but I think the biggest problem with that and and it's in anything you do not just in kind of like tv is is that and it's really really cliche but I stand by it is you know eight billion people in the world and and the one superpower you have is that you are completely fucking unique yes no one thinks exactly the same as me no one feels the same as you that is the one thing that no one can ever take away from you is that you are completely and utterly unique and why you would want to be someone else baffles me it genuinely baffles me you know like and i think that's the problem is that social media and and everything else which i do think is amazing i do think it's amazing and it's there's so many great things but it's led society to believe that there is always someone better.
1:24:11So emulating someone that you believe to be better than you is better than yourself. And that is a fucking dangerous place for people to be, especially younger people. It's a really fucking dangerous place for people to be. If being someone else is better than being yourself, what the fuck are we all doing? Yeah, I'm with you. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, but what you and Sam have, is incredibly special. I'll tell you, there was one moment where I knew for a fact you guys are on it. You were on tour. You both were on tour. You were doing this live show. And it just so happened that Married at First Sight was doing the launch.
1:24:49It was the launch of one of our series. And I'm walking, right, to get to the Married at First Sight, and I see this massive line raging, like, rapt, right? People going crazy. I was like, all right, this is the Married at First Sight. No, that was Sam and Pete show over there. Awesome. I go over there it's like crickets it's like this short line the tour was a wild thing because we'd never done anything like that before and you know when we were going through at the time people were like well we're going to get someone to write the show for you and I was like no fuck that I'm going to write it and and I wrote the show and we did did you?
1:25:25yeah and I do all of our stuff because it has to be us and it has to be it's not someone else because it's not like just a kind of a podcast we do a whole show and a big fucking thing happened like it's not just kind of sat here and loads of people watch it it's like a which is what a podcast is and what we do in our podcast but if you're doing a show then let's make it a fucking show yes so i wrote a full full show and a full thing and and we had no idea how it was going to go and we didn't we didn't we had we just had no idea we just thought we'd give this a go and it just went mental and this year is going to be a big year because we are um i mean sam's already told everyone we're doing the o2 and for for you know like a massive of just two mates it's kind of like the fuck and again i've already wrote the show for that i wrote that during a street fee because i couldn't sleep um but i it's we are so blessed to get to kind of work together if you want to call it work but just to spend time together and and what we have done with the podcast and even just Sam and I, it's created a bunch of people that feel like a little kind of online family.
1:26:39You know what I mean? It also underscores the importance of friendship, you know, because, you know, we're in a day and age, and I've heard you speak about this, write about this, where we are in a loneliness epidemic, in particular men. You know, in the research I was doing for this is you have 27 % of men say they have no close friends. right you have many men saying that they have no one that they feel as if they can turn to to support them so and what's interesting is that you have those stats then you have pete wicks over here who has said that he you were what an outgoing loner is that an outgoing loner yeah you know but yet you still have the friendship circles yeah and that's that's critically important i think to our success and our mental health yeah massively like you know i wrote the book last year and and that was kind of a cathartic experience for me but it wasn't a self-help book and it wasn't giving advice to people because I don't know what I'm fucking talking about but it's my experiences that are maybe relatable to people and the amount of people that message me just saying it helped because someone else could explain how I feel and all I did was explain how I feel I tried to put because I think that's the biggest problem with men is that we we feel things and it's not just men it's not gender specific but i think men probably struggle more with it is that we feel we feel things but we don't really understand why we feel it yes or how we can look past that so we tend to just bury stuff we don't want to talk to anyone about it we don't really want to do anything about it and just hope it goes away and when it doesn't go to the way it becomes a fucking huge problem right actually if you dealt with it you know in bite-sized pieces we may not not got to a point where, you know, male suicide rates in the UK are fucking astronomical, right?
1:28:29Number one source of death for men under the age of 50, suicide. And what a horrific and sad statistic that is. Number one is people taking their own life, right? That's not through disease, that's people taking their own life. And, you know, with my mum and everything else, is a touchy subject for me. And I don't know what the answer to mental health is. I don't think, you know, a lot of people do because there isn't a one-size-fits-all because we all think differently, we all feel differently. And mental health can be such a lonely place. Your head can become a prison. But there are so many different things out there.
1:29:13It's about finding the right thing for you. You know, people talk about therapy and that is amazing. Therapy has helped so many people that I know. but it doesn't always work for everyone right but there are other different things that you can look at and I think the one people that the one thing people need to to do before they start working themselves is work out that they they do need help and admit that they need help and I never did that I said I'll do everything on my own I'll do everything on my own and when I lost my man I realized I needed help and I still don't know what that is but I've accepted the fact that I needs something because otherwise things are going to get bad and i think that's the first thing that people have to start doing and you know the book wasn't about telling people what to do it was about go and take a minute and work out do you need help and if you do where can you get it yes you know yes yes and going back to that that affirmate i'm telling you the affirmation that's going to send you to a place that you want to be at it will it will so that now that we're just pete what is the horizon look what does it look like for you the horizon for me now is is being in control again i kind of have felt lost for years probably 20 years of doing this and doing my best at everything i can but not knowing really what i'm doing or where i'm doing it or why i'm doing it or not really understanding everything and being confused.
1:30:44One thing I would really love to have is a bit of peace of mind. And I think without peace of mind, it's a struggle. Yes. So that's what the horizon is for me, is finding peace of mind, whatever that looks like, but doing it my way. Yes. As long as you're doing the work and you're surrounding yourself with people who love you, then it's going to happen for you. It's no doubt. It will. It's just a matter of time, and everyone's time horizon is different on this. One thing that's always struck me about you is that you are vulnerable, I think, with people that you respect. And what I truly appreciate about this conversation, and it's interesting because I've seen you in so many different lights where you're super comical.
1:31:38Like people don't realize how funny you are. Like you're mad funny, you know, super comical. Sometimes you could be very, like you're quick, witted as well. You're super sharp. So you're very good at, you know, like back in the day. Yeah, we were deflecting, right? Or we would call them like different jokes, right? But you're great at all these things. But what I have seen here today is I think, at least for me, the Pete that I want to see more of. And this is you being honest and open about all of these places of your life and saying, you know what? I don't have it all figured out. And I'm still going through the pain, right?
1:32:21But I do need help. But I want to go back because you just said something that I have not heard you say. Maybe you have heard this. You said this before, but so you're saying that when you're in the past, that's when you realized I do need help. and I'm going to connect it back to an early part of the conversation is why did you realize you need to help?
1:32:48Because I have never felt so alone. And I think I've probably spent, you know, a lot of my life being surrounded by people. Surrounded by people does not mean you're not lonely. Right. But the one thing that I could rely on and the one thing that was a safety net for me was my nan. Right. And then when that's kind of, when you have kind of the rug pulled from underneath you, you're just laid on the bed floor. And it's, it just made me think that even the reliance that I had on her being a safety net, I have to be my own safety net at some point. But also I have to allow other people to help me.
1:33:32because I think initially when she died, I went straight into the shutdown and I don't think I've grieved or processed it still because I shut down because I needed to. And, you know, even over the past couple of months, I'm probably sadder than I ever have been about it. But that's because I'm starting to open up rather than just shutting down. and a lot of that has come down to me changing the way I look at things and becoming more vulnerable. And actually the more vulnerable you become, the more you open yourself up to the feelings that you've repressed for quite some time. And, you know, it's tough because, you know, people lose grandparents.
1:34:17You know, one thing I fucking hate is pity parties about anything. it's it's not the worst thing in the world to happen to you know anyone but it's the worst thing in the world that's ever happened to me so you know there isn't one way of dealing with grief, grief is a completely unique experience for everyone and I don't think I've grieved or processed it properly but I am I'm starting to now three odds on and that's a very weird feeling but I think that's because I'm in a better position now than I was three years ago to be able to deal with it in a way that is not going to be so detrimental as what it would have been three years ago I protected myself and now I'm stronger than I was then and I would argue you probably have more people around you now offering to help yeah I mean I've been so fortunate to have amazing people around me that have always offered help and I've always battered them away.
1:35:23And that's a really selfish thing to do. But I think it was a way of defending myself from actually having emotions. Because without emotions and feeling numb seemed like a safer bet. And actually all you're doing is ostracizing yourself from the people that love you and you're deflecting away people's love and how are you ever going to feel loved if you don't allow it in? If you don't allow it in. You know what's also interesting about not feeling enough or having low self-worth, which is not feeling enough, is that what we end up doing is we end up then becoming the perfectionist. We end up becoming the people pleaser.
1:36:08We end up doing all of these things. And you know why we do it? You know why we do it? Because we get the validation from the public. and it's a bit of a charade that we play with the public because we say, look how immaculately dressed I am. So therefore, don't look inside. Because what's outside is good. Look at me on all these television shows doing all this right. Look how I help. But don't look inside. Just don't look inside. And I think the beauty is you're saying, you know what, you can look inside now Or you can begin to... Yeah. You can have a sneak peek. Have a sneak peek. Yeah. This is the maturity.
1:36:54This is. You know what's so incredible about that is that shows you that you are healing. That... Because, you know, when people talk about, you know, something traumatic happens, we then go in the cycle of trying to heal. But what we fool ourselves into thinking is that there is a definitive end point. So at a certain point, I'm good. I'm healed. But it doesn't happen that way. What happens is that we're always managing the trauma that's happened, but we get to a point where we can manage it in a healthy way. And that shows up in our behaviors, setting boundaries, becoming more vulnerable, not feeling shameful.
1:37:35These are all of the traits and characteristics that suggest, you know what, I'm managing this in a healthy way. So you opening up, beginning to open up, even through conversations like this, shows that you are healing, that you are. And that I'm proud of. That I'm proud of. I mean, I think, you know, you said it there. I think a lot of the time what people always want is a fix and an answer. And sometimes there isn't a fix to everything, you know, with healing and, you know, grieving and anything else. It's not like one day you go to work and go, well, okay, well, I'm good now. You know, I think accepting that, but also accepting that there are ways in which you can continue to move forward.
1:38:23Yes. And that's kind of where I am, is moving forward. Yeah. Fair enough. So every single person on this show gets a question. and to me it's the most important question and this is we all throughout our lives we interact with so many incredible people if you think back to all of the conversations that you've had who did you have the most memorable conversation with so who was it with what did you talk about and most importantly what did you learn from that conversation um well that's it's a tough one that because one jumps straight into my um mind but it's not really a happy one it doesn't have to be it's it's a it's a like to give you something really motivational no this is this this show is about provocative conversation the conversations that we tend to avoid but yet there's a lesson behind these topics unsurprisingly mine was with my nan three days before she died and it was one of the most horrendous conversations I've ever had but also I think it was
1:40:03it was horrendous because it was her way of saying goodbye before it's time to say goodbye.
1:40:12But she told me something that has always stuck with me and something that has probably made me look at changing since she left and that's that she had been really ill for a really long time, a really, really long time. And, you know, she kept getting to the point where we thought it was going to be it and then she'd fight back and then she'd fight back and she'd fight back. And three days before she died, she said to me that she couldn't do it anymore. And I was really angry. I said, what do you mean? What do you mean you can't do it anymore? You're going to be fine. She was like, babe, I can't do it anymore.
1:40:55And she was like, I've been hanging on because all I want is for you to be happy.
1:41:02And I felt so guilty because I felt like she'd been putting herself through so much pain for me to just be happy and I couldn't even give her that. I couldn't even give her that. So, since she's gone and I don't know what happens when you die. I don't know if there's anything else. I don't know if she's looking down or whatever else, but since then, regardless of career, regardless of anything else, it's become more important for me to give her that and find happiness, whatever that may look like and however I do that, because that's all she wanted.
1:41:48So that's been the big change she left, is the reason that I've become more vulnerable and tried to do things is because I have to do things differently to what I was doing before. And am I happy now? No. But am I open to it where I've never been open to it before? Yeah.
1:42:13Whenever I ask that question, almost all the time, we think back to what are first person that we attach to and we felt love talk to us about. And we always take a very simple lesson. Everyone does. Very simple lesson. And this lesson around happiness, and that's all she wanted you to have. And I go back to this notion of she wanted you to have that regardless.
1:42:48And I thing I've noticed that you've done throughout this conversation is, is that we'll talk about a moment. You will begin to dip into your feeling or your emotion around the moment, but then you'll dismiss it. I'm sure you've, you see yourself doing that. Oh, they were going through a tough time. Oh, you know, that's just what happens. Oh, other people have had grandparents pass away. This has happened time and time again. And what I would encourage you to do is to stop yourself in that moment and say, but what about me? And that's not you being selfish. That's just you acknowledging your emotion and your feeling in the moment, right?
1:43:37And when you begin to do that, I think that you will begin to disconnect yourself as the cause of what has happened and look at yourself as you were part of what happened. And I also think what's so poetic is that I feel like a large part of this conversation and the whole point of this letter, and I didn't know about this conversation you had with your nan, is that that's the whole part. The whole part is how can you be happy? When I look at your entire history from researching you, It's like, here's a guy who the public thinks has it all and he's not happy. And my simple reaction to that is, what can I do just to help?
1:44:27Maybe I can't carry him on the path, but what can I do? And I truly believe with all of my heart, I sat down, I'm pulling out my hair. right and i think that this is this is key this is the work remember 40 10 50 50 percent of your happiness in essence the majority of it you control this and if you're going to deliver that to your nan then this is the work the affirmation so please do it and i know you're going to do it you've already said you're going to do it i shook your hand i'll do it yeah i um i want to thank you uh you're a rock star you were the first person that my boys actually thought was cool uh and i said do you think was dad cool before before pirate peter there is no way they think i'm cooler than you and now i think they think yeah yeah you got me yeah but you you were the very first person and i also remember that because i thought wow here's these kids from america who know nothing about the UK, but they're gravitating towards this guy.
1:45:36And it is because you truly are blessed with this ability to light up a room. You have it. When you walked in here, you lit up the room. I want you to take all those skills and just turn it on yourself and light you up. You know what I mean? Light you up. And the future is going to be incredible for you. I guarantee it. thank you and you know what I'm sure when you do kind of podcasts and you thank everyone for coming on I don't know how many people thank you but thank you for having me but more than anything and over the years and you know people know that we know each other kind of through TV and all the rest of it but I consider a friend and that's something I am thankful for as well yes yes get the work done What an episode.
1:46:33It's always great to have any guest on, but in particular, it's great to have a friend on. And like always, I have a few takeaways, so let me give you my top three from this conversation with Pete Wicks. Number one, pain deserves to be felt, and moments of self-pity are natural, but staying stuck there can quietly steal your power. Pete's insights remind us that while it's okay to acknowledge our struggles, true healing begins when we gently take responsibility for our next steps. No one can walk that path for us, but that doesn't mean we have to do it alone. Strength isn't about ignoring your hurt.
1:47:15It's about finding the courage to face it one small step at a time. Number two, grief has a way of unlocking doors we didn't even know were closed. For Pete, losing his Nan wasn't just about her absence. It was the floodgate that revealed years of unprocessed emotions. Sometimes, a single loss exposes deeper wounds we've carried silently. The bravest moment isn't in facing the grief alone, but in recognizing when it's time to ask for help. Healing often begins, not with answers, but with the courage to admit, I can't do this on my own. And last but not least, in a world that often feels heavy and relentless, dogs, yes, dogs, offer something rare, pure presence.
1:48:09Pete's connection with dogs reveals a simple yet profound truth. They aren't just pets. They're reminders of peace, joy, and unconditional love. When life feels overwhelming, dogs pull us into the now, away from regret about the past or fear of the future. Sometimes healing doesn't come from solving every problem. It comes from sitting with the dog, looking into their eyes and realizing that in that moment, it's enough. As always, thanks for watching and I can't wait to see you next time. And just remember, around 9 in 10 of you watching these videos aren't subscribed yet. Now, no pressure at all, but if you're enjoying the content, subscribing is a super simple way to stay connected with us and it also helps a ton when growing the channel.
1:48:58We also look at every comment, so make sure you comment with your guest ideas below and we'll get your favorite guest on our future episodes. Can you believe that 80 % of relationships end in heartbreak or dissatisfaction? Do you want to know why? Because of the myths we believe about love. So much of what we've been taught is wrong. Like, true love means never feeling attracted to someone else. Myth. You should never keep secrets from your partner. Myth. And the big one, never go to bed angry. Another myth. That's why I wrote, keep love. To debunk 21 of the biggest myths and replace them with actionable truths that actually help.
1:49:45To celebrate, I'm inviting you to an evening with me, Paul C. Brunson, on February 7th at Cadogan Hall in London. We'll unpack the biggest myths, explore the truths that strengthen relationships, and answer your questions in a live Q &A. Tickets are limited, so grab yours now from the link below.
1:50:16Thank you.
From the publisher
CONTENT WARNING: This episode includes a conversation around suicide.
“I had Death threats after cheating”
Join us for an intimate journey with Pete Wicks as he reveals the truths behind his life in the spotlight.
From deeply personal setbacks to pivotal lessons learned along the way, Pete opens up about his experiences from early life to his days on reality TV, and how he navigates his current world.
This episode goes beyond entertainment; it’s a heartfelt exploration of authenticity, friendship, and the courage it takes to truly be oneself.
CONTENT WARNING: This episode discusses sensitive topics, including suicide. If you or someone you know needs support, please see the charities below:
Pete's Instagram - https://g2ul0.app.link/zjM1cB5I7Pb
Samaritans - https://g2ul0.app.link/AqoPIXcJ7Pb
CALM https://g2ul0.app.link/Xx7coefJ7Pb
Follow Pete Here:
Watch Pete Wicks: For Dog's Sake on U https://g2ul0.app.link/F6dHawVY7Pb
Dog's Trust https://g2ul0.app.link/ZYBsXCYY7Pb
Book Never Enough https://g2ul0.app.link/KZHnwQ0Y7Pb
Follow me here:
https://www.instagram.com/needtotalk/
https://www.tiktok.com/@weneedtotalkpod/
Get your tickets to 'An Evening with Paul C. Brunson' here: https://bit.ly/keeplove-megaphone/
Pre-order Keep Love here: https://lnk.to/keeplovebook/
Sections:
(00:00) Insights on Pete
(01:40) Pete Is WNTT's Most Wanted Guest
(06:20) Exploring Pete's Love for Dogs
(15:48) Debunking Myths About Pete's Height
(17:06) Introducing Harlow
(18:30) The Roots of Pete: His Early Life
(21:49) Tribute to Pete's Grandmother
(26:00) The Impact of Pete's Parents' Divorce
(28:25) How Pete's Parents' Divorce Shaped His Self-Esteem
(33:33) Mental Health Challenges: Insights from Pete's Mother
(36:33) Pete and His 12-Year-Old Self: A Relationship Study
(40:11) How Pete's Childhood Influences His Adult Relationships
(43:16) Pete Before Fame: His Employment Journey
(47:57) Adobe Ad
(48:54) Tinder Ad
(49:46) The Start of Pete's Journey in Reality TV
(52:59) TOWIE's Rise in Popularity with Pete
(55:11) Comparing Reality TV Then and Now: Pete's Experience
57:52 Public Reaction to Pete's Cheating Scandal with Megan McKenna
(01:01:29) TOWIE's Impact on Pete's Personal Relationships
(01:01:57) Unveiling the Two Sides of Pete
(01:04:25) Pete Today: Does He Feel Sufficient?
(01:06:33) Paul's Positive Affirmations for Pete
(01:08:31) Paul's Praise for Pete: A Motivational Boost
(01:11:48) Is Pete Truly Happy? Unpacking His Emotional State
(01:16:52) Exploring Pete's Relationship with Maura Higgins
(01:19:28) Pete and Sam Thompson: Analyzing Their Bond
(01:21:12) Today's Crisis of Authenticity
(01:25:58) Loneliness Epidemic and Male Mental Health: A Deep Dive
(01:29:42) What Lies Ahead for Pete? Future Prospects
(01:32:24) Pete's Journey to Self-Help Realization
(01:36:38) Pete Discusses Vulnerability and Openness
(01:38:15) Most Memorable Conversations with Pete
(01:41:41) Paul's Closing Thoughts For Pete
(01:46:16) Paul's Key Takeaways
(01:48:54) Keep Love Ad
Sponsored by:
Adobe: https://www.adobe.com/uk/express/
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