The gym has helped me get through break ups and family trauma – it’s saved me mentally, says Towie star James Lock
TOWIE star James Lock has opened up how he copes with battling break ups and family trauma.
The 36-year-old reality icon had a ‘mini-breakdown’ last year, and he’s been upfront about his mental health on the latest series of Towie.
And recently James opened to The Sun about how he’s overcome his life challenges, while at the launch of his new fitness brand, Levo.
“The gym for me has always been the best cure for any kind of mental problem.
“It could be family trauma or a crisis or a break up or something job related and it has always been there to help me through and get me out of those places,” he explained.
Despite no plans to leave Towie any time soon, James, whose exes include Megan Barton Hanson and Yazmin Oukhellou, does believe he’s a changed man and that viewers have watched him “grow up” on the show.
He added: “As I’ve got older on Towie I’ve become more mature, and I do open up on the show. But at the end of the day I have no real drama with anyone and I try not to antagonise situations and I’ve tried to show a more mature side of myself.”
Last year, the reality hunk shared how he’d “hit a bit of a low point,” adding: “What happened was, even though I’ve done well, I didn’t feel like I had fulfilled where I should have been in life. I felt like I’d made a lot of mistakes.
“I was regretting a lot of stuff. I was at a low point and then you drink to forget, which is never good for me because I was self-sabotaging.
“I was making the wrong choices.”
The star, who first joined Towie in 2013, lost his uncle to mental health and told how his dad also experienced depression.
James has since thrown himself into fitness and launched his very own activewear brand, named Levo.
Launching the sleek new brand in London last week, James was joined by a whole host of his Towie costars, including James Argent, Chloe Brockett, Elma Pazar, and Junaid Ahmed.
Explaining the name, the star added: “Levo means to level up in Latin and everything I’m doing at the minute is about levelling up in life – physically and mentally.”
Continuing to discuss Levo, he said: “The brand is just beginning. We’re starting off with gym wear and I live in my gym wear. Yes I’ll dress up for a night out but you can mainly find me in my gym gear.
“I’m in the gym all the time and wanted to make clothing that you can wear there but also head out in too.
“There’s a lot more to come, from tracksuit bottoms and tops and his and hers t-shirts. Watch this space.”
The high-performance sets have already been modelled by Lockie’s co-stars in stunning snaps, including Amber Turner and Ella Rae Wise.