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Privacy NoticeMonty Don recently returned to our television screens with the launch of his latest show, Monty Don’s Spanish Gardens, a new gardening programme that’s taken him all the way to the Mediterranean. According to the synopsis, the BBC Two series sees the 68 year old horticulturist discover gardens “across the country’s diverse landscape” and explore its “rich and varied history and culture.” Monty, who recently shut down rumours that he’d be stepping down from his beloved BBC Gardeners’ World, has also been very open about his health battles over the years – both physical and mental. During a chat with the Radio Times Magazine in 2023, he explained to readers that he’s suffered from depression for decades, and admitted that his mood mostly lowers during the winter months. This led to him learning that he experiences seasonal affective disorder, otherwise known as SAD, a type of depression that is related to the changes in seasons.
BBC Gardeners’ World star Monty Don has often been candid about his health over the years
(Image: Marsha Arnold/PA)
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Monty described his depression as an “ongoing process,” but revealed that it once got so bad that his wife of over 40 years, Sarah, said she and their three children would leave him if he didn’t get help. He went into more detail about this while speaking on Kate Thornton’s White Wine Question Time podcast in December 2023. He said: “I was long ago diagnosed with SAD – there’s no question about it, that November, December are always the worst time for me – I can’t bear them. “It’s a lot to do with the greyness, the lack of light and the general sense of the world just pressing in on you and no energy.” he explained.
68 year old Monty suffers from seasonal affective disorder (SAD) – a type of depression related to the changing of the seasons
(Image: Mark Thomas/REX/Shutterstock)
Elsewhere, Monty also suffered from a minor stroke in 2008. After feeling unwell since the previous Christmas, he initially put it down to exhaustion and the relentless travelling for work. According to the TV star, he received a brain scan after realising his symptoms were not improving, which revealed a temporary blockage in one of the arteries to his brain. He recalled the traumatic experience to Mail Online, saying: “As I walked it felt as if I was tipping over, so I’d lean the other way and find myself tipping into a hedge instead. I cannot over exaggerate how alarmed and unwell I felt. “It was incredibly frightening because it was as if I had entered totally uncharted territory. I said to my wife Sarah: ‘Hold me because I think I’m dying and, if I am, I want to die in your arms.'”
Monty suffered a minor stroke in 2008, which made his aware of his own mortality
(Image: BBC/Richard Hanmer)
Ahead of his new Spanish Gardens show, he also told Times Radio that the stroke had made him aware of his own mortality. The year before his stroke, Monty experienced another health scare. In August 2007, it was revealed he’d suffered from an abdominal infection called peritonitis after his wife found him unconscious on the floor. He was then rushed to hospital for emergency surgery.Story SavedYou can find this story in  My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.Follow OK! MagazineFacebookTwitterCommentMore OnHealthMental health
