Romesh Ranganathan has revealed he used to ‘fantasise’ about suicide as he opened up about his mental health with Runner’s World UK.

The comedian, 47, admitted he came ‘very close’ to take his own life when he was a ‘super depressed’ teenager.

Ahead of running for the charity Teenage Cancer Trust at this year’s London Marathon, Romesh spoke about how fitness his helped him overcome his struggles.

He said: ‘When I was 18 or 19 years old, I feel like I came very close [to] ending my life.

‘I just couldn’t see the point in carrying on. I was super depressed. Then I started to do suicide ideation, where you start to fantasise about it. 

‘The best way I can describe it, when I thought about taking my own life, it felt like a weight was being lifted. 

Romesh Ranganathan, 47, has revealed he used to ‘fantasise’ about suicide as he opened up about his mental health with Runner’s World UK

The comedian admitted he came ‘very close’ to take his own life when he was a ‘super depressed’ teenager

‘Mental health is something I’m still aware of, and it’s been a battle for me. 

‘I think once you come close to something like that, it’s a bit like being an ex-smoker: you have to stay on top of it.’

Although he has ways of helping some of his dark thoughts, Romesh admitted he still has days where anxiety creeps in.  

He added: ‘I’m very privileged in my life now, but sometimes I can feel I might be getting a little dark in my head, or the anxiety creep in. 

‘Sometimes, to be honest with you, it can be that I’ve not been running. But it’s been an ongoing struggle. 

‘I’ve only relatively recently dealt with this prick that’s living inside my head, this inner voice that’s constantly telling me I’m a piece of sнιт. 

‘That’s something I’ve had to live with for a long time. Now I don’t have it anymore, but I know what it’s like.’

In 2023, Romesh admitted he regularly thought about taking his own life due to a ‘horrific’ voice in his head. 

Ahead of running for the charity Teenage Cancer Trust at this year’s London Marathon, Romesh spoke about how fitness his helped him overcome his struggles

He said: ‘When I was 18 or 19 years old, I feel like I came very close [to] ending my life. I just couldn’t see the point in carrying on. I was super depressed. Then I started to do suicide ideation, where you start to fantasise about it’

‘The best way I can describe it, when I thought about taking my own life, it felt like a weight was being lifted’, he added

Appearing on The Diary of a CEO podcast, he discussed the challenges he’s faced through out his life, while adding that they have provided him with endless material for his sell-out shows.

During the intimate conversation, Romesh said: ‘I was thinking about taking my own life regularly, and I’d fantasise about it…

‘I think that all comedians are wired slightly differently. They’ve had something happen to them that has made them an outsider in some way.’

Speaking on his successful career as a comedian, he said: ‘I’m addicted to doing stand-up. And it makes me better at everything.

‘But… I’ve got this inner voice that is horrific. It will say, “you’re not a very good Dad, you’re not a very good husband.”

‘I had a run of about six panel shows, and I was in a really bad place, and I turned up to each one of them with the steadfast belief that I was sh*t at this’

When asked what happens when it goes wrong on stage, he added: ‘It’s horrible. That silence… That never gets easier, man.

‘But you learn more from those gigs. I just need to do the best I possibly can at this gig, I’m not in control of anything that happens after that.’

Romesh previously insisted that humour should be used more to help people people get through their mental health struggles (pictured in 2020) 

His father Ranga left their mother Shanthi when the comic was just 12 and he and his brother Dinesh were forced to move from Reigate Grammar School to a local comprehensive when their father was jailed for fraud (pictured with Shanthi in 2022)

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‘Don’t think about this goal down the line that you’re trying to get to. Do this thing brilliantly, and if you love what you do and you do that, you’re on a good path.’

Romesh has also insisted that humour should be used more to help people people get through their mental health struggles.

His father Ranga left their mother Shanthi when the comic was just 12 and he and his brother Dinesh were forced to move from Reigate Grammar School to a local comprehensive when their father was jailed for fraud.

Their family home was repossessed and Romesh and his mother were forced to live in a B&B for 18 months, before finally being found a council house.

Upon his release Ranga started running a pub in Grinstead, East SusSєx, but then suddenly died from a heart attack.

While Romesh and his brother later fell out, the funnyman claims it was his sibling’s humour that helped him in the immediate days after his father’s death.

Speaking about his mental health struggles on the Original Penguin X Campaign Against Living Miserably Under The Surface podcast in March 2023, Romesh said: ‘Sometimes you can use humour to deflect and that’s something to be aware of. 

‘I think it can be really useful. I have a very dark sense of humour, and my family have a very dark sense of humour. 

While Romesh and his brother later fell out, the funnyman claims it was his sibling’s humour that helped him in the immediate days after his father’s death 

‘For example, when my dad pᴀssed away, my brother came home and found my dad collapsed after he had a heart attack and pᴀssed away. 

‘I turned up and immediately started crying and the next day we were round at my mum’s house and dealing with the aftermath of that and people coming round. 

‘My brother subjected me to a 10 minute roast about the sounds I make when I cry.  And we were properly laughing about it. 

‘He goes, “Listen man, we’ve got to talk about some of the sounds that you were making, it was mad! I’ve never heard noises like that come out of a person!”, and we just started laughing about it. 

‘And I know it sounds super dark, but that almost felt cathartic. We were going through this horrible thing, but you can still find light in it and we can still joke.’

The full interview can be read in the May issue of Runner’s World UK on sale now