Mark Wrights dad fights back tears as he discusses son Joshs near breakdown

Mark Wright's dad was close to tears in a This Morning interview as he opened up on hearing about son Josh's mental health struggles for the first time.

Former TOWIE star Mark, his footballer brother Josh and their dad Mark senior, are set to launch a new TV show, A Wright Family Holiday, which sees them head out on a road trip around the UK together as they bond with each other.

The family appeared on This Morning on Thursday, 8 June, where they explained they wanted to reconnect after a tough time during Covid where they lost their uncle and Mark senior nearly died.

Mark senior was close to tears during the interview as he choked up over the memory of his sons revealing their problems that they hadn't talked to him about before.

Radio DJ Mark, who is married to Michelle Keegan, said: "I don't think we realised individually how much we had to get off our chests. We're never really together just us three, normally our wives are there, so we don't really get to talk.

"I think we all came out with stuff that we needed to. Men need to talk, women need to talk, everyone needs to talk and we really aired things.

"My dad said one of the things that upset him about the trip but he's glad it happened was we both told him some issues that we've got and that we never told him sooner."

His dad apologised for tearing up as he said: "I wish they'd come to me years ago. Things came out in our conversations that I was quite emotional they didn't come to me about, they kept it within. I keep things in, I should be more outgoing with talking but I'm not."

Mark senior added that one of the toughest moments had been hearing about the problems that Josh was keeping bottled up.

He said: "Josh was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I had no idea, me and my wife Carol had no idea what he was going through. We knew he was having one or two problems trying to find another club."

Mark added of his brother's experiences: "It's all footballers have ever known since they were a kid. I've watched him go to bed early every night and only have a short gap in the summer to go on holiday, it's all he's ever known so when it's coming to an end, the mental health levels in footballers are quite high. We didn't know he was going through it. It was a real sad moment."

Josh told viewers that the programme had helped him to get some perspective on his career.

He said: "I did get to see that there's life outside of football. It's the hardest thing for any sportsperson when it comes to an end. It's been a big light at the end of the tunnel in my mind for when it does come to an end."

The adventure was an opportunity for the Wrights to deepen their bond, as Mark said: "We're three alpha males, we try to make our dad proud and we find it hard to open up. We know our dad's proud but he's never really told us, he's not an emotional person."

His dad added: "I've not seen my boys cry since they were babies."

A Wright Family Holiday airs at 8pm tonight on BBC One.

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