Romesh Ranganathan is one of the UK’s most popular comedians and the host of BBC Radio 2’s weekend show. He’s been more frank about his continued struggles with mental health recently. During this honest conversation, he made a surprising confession. He says he is finally in “one of the best places” mentally today, following years of battle and extensive self-reflection.
Life-changing experiences have shaped Ranganathan’s quest. Certainly one of the most formative, influential moments was losing his Dad at just 12 years old. Following the tragedy, Ranganathan’s father went on to face major legal troubles and served two years in jail for committing fraud. This pushed Ranganathan to confront the challenges of adolescence without a constant paternal figure.
As a teenager grappling with the pressures of A-levels and family turmoil, Ranganathan turned to various activities to cope with his mental health struggles. He eventually turned to running, immersive reading, and deep breathing exercises for comfort. These activities quickly turned into his best tools for grounding himself and focusing during hard times. Though these may have been effective coping mechanisms, he admitted to still having suicidal thoughts for extended intervals during his lifetime.
“I’ve been through in my life a number of periods of suicide ideation,” Ranganathan admitted during his interview. He highlighted the need to call out mental health issues, saying that “recognising it is half the battle.”
Ranganathan’s family emigrated from Sri Lanka to the UK in 1970, just before he was born. We had known that his mother, Shanthi, immigrated to a new country when she was only 19! As he remembered her sacrifices, Langston said, “My mum is one of my heroes.” In retrospect, he identified that he had been unsympathetic to her challenges during that transitional phase.
To resonate with his listener, Ranganathan explained that adjusting to life in Britain was daunting when he was young. He was like a child in a sweet shop. Yet what really amazed me was the way he dove headfirst into social experiences, even as he battled through his internal struggles.
Though his obstacles have been considerable, Ranganathan has stuck to his mental health journey. In other words, he knows that saving money and doing the things necessary to be well takes ongoing commitment and self-honesty. “One of the things I’ve noticed when it comes to mental health is you do stuff that works, and it’s proven to work for you personally,” he noted. He was quick to recognize our desire to ditch these practices as soon as we start to feel better.
“You go, ‘Oh, I’ve done that every day for a week, I’m really feeling better, shall I just stop? Yeah!’” he reflected on this common pitfall. He challenged his listeners to keep looking and fighting for therapeutic approaches for their own mental wellness.
Ranganathan recently participated in the London Marathon earlier this year, further demonstrating his commitment to physical activity as a means of maintaining mental wellness. To celebrate, he compiled some of the best tracks from across genres including Kanye West, Eminem and Huey Lewis. This collection was recently made highly visible on the wildly popular BBC program Desert Island Discs.
