I have always thought that Matt drinks too much, but it does seem to be part of the culture that he was immersed in long before XF. But the moment when I really thought things were beyond normal, was when he had the incident in the sea at Bali. That was reported to be alcohol related, but the lack of memory etc is even more explicable now, knowing that he was drinking and taking those drugs. I think we have been witnessing a meltdown without knowing why for several months and the Will situation may have been the turning point that has made him seek help. I just hope, as others here have said, that he gets himself better before even attempting a return to work of any sort. We have 3 great albums and past tour memories to keep us going, for as long as it takes.

One more thing - I wonder who the "source" is that gave The Sun the information - clearly not Will.

That's been bugging me all day Why not just quietly check in? Why clearly not Will, it might not seem likely given the circumstances but I still think there is a strong possibility it was.

Just intruding to say that I am sorry to hear about Matt. He seems like a lovely person & I hope that he'll be better soon.

A "source" is often nothing more than them piecing together what they can. It's not necessarily anyone Matt knows (or even a specific person at all!).

Well an assumption, given that he is in Australia. You're quite right, he may be still dealing with stuff, although if it were Will feeding the story I would have thought he would go through either James Ingham or Dean Piper rather than The Sun.

I saw some peeps on Twitter discussing Will's bio change and unfollow, and they started with the line that he was a fairweather friend who abandoned Matt in his hour of need, but they moved on to suggesting it may have been a bit of "tough love" from Will. I hope it is the latter - may be Will's action has been the spur Matt needed to face up to his situation.

If that's the case, then I wonder who tipped them off, if he has only just gone in. You'd like to think patient confidentiality applied to all staff at The Priory - but where else would the info come from so quickly.

I could see for a while that all wasn't well with Matt(i didn't expect the presciption drugs part though)but i was still really upset when i saw the post on here about it.just glad he is getting the help he needs and i hope he doesn't rush back to work etc.

That's lovely of you (and all the other "visitors" today)to say so.

I'm hoping it's not true, but if it is, he'll get through it. I have every faith in him. He survived cancer and he never gave up on his dream.

Yes the Bali thing really was alarming, and I was surprised he told anyone about it, yet alone a tabloid journalist because it seemed daft in the extreme, but at the time he had an album to promote and I guess I simply accepted that it was a case of all publicity being good publicity.

Unless it is alcohol and they dropped this story to deflect from it, but is being addicted to prescription drugs much different

Thanks guys for your concern


I really am unsure what has happened with Will and i really dont want to jump to any conclusions.i do agree that they have become a bit too interlinked in the last few years that we are now questioning his actions whereas normally management would be a faceless person in the background.
I am sure Matt has many people in his life who are doing there best to look after him and have encouraged him to take the step to seek help..its not any easy step to take especially when it gets plastered over the papers..so i am behind whoever is supporting him,whoever that maybe.

I would be surprised if it were not true - if he were at home he would have seen the internet stories and it would be easy enough to put a statement on Twitter denying it.

Not sure if one is better than another from a PR perspective.

I think the most comforting part in this is the thought that he has a really strong supportive family, rather than a dysfunctional one.

This has been on my mind all day. Who tells the media, surely he had only been in there a few hours before the story broke. They don't waste much time do they ?

I often thought it was his drinking that needed to be addressed, the Bali thing really was a worry, as has been said, especially since he couldn't remember it happening. Good job he wasn't on his own.
That funny little clip of him in Ireland on his way to McD's doesn't seem so funny now

Lovely to see all our visitors popping in with their best wishes

One addiction is much the same as any other addiction, I would guess.

I suspect he had some encouragement from his family over Christmas to seek help. He seems to have an addictive personality, smoking, excessive drinking, sex if his ex-girlfriend is to be believed, even music seems to be an obsession for him. Now this. Hopefully whatever therapy he gets there can help him out.

As someone who loved Matt on the show but hasn't really been following his material since (I know, I know) just popping in to say I hope he comes through whatever he's going through at the moment and emerges happier and healthier for it.

I can only imagine how hard he has been working, and I have a huge respect for how he's conducted himself publicly (re JA etc) and moved on from the Syco machine to establish himself as en entirely self-sufficient singer-songwriter. He's really the only one to have done that successfully in 10 years of the show as far as I'm aware. But with that self-sufficiency comes a huge responsibility and it sounds as if that's taken it's toll.


I know a little about this, having had an ex who turned out to be alcoholic and subsequently went to rehab. They call it cross-addiction IIRC, in that often one addiction gets replaced by another. In my ex's case, it was from alcohol to sleeping pills and eventually back again. It's a really terrible, soul-destroying thing to witness and be around and I do wonder whether the stuff with the manager that I've picked up on here just reading the last couple of pages is related to that - certainly I eventually had to cut ties because 1/there was absolutely nothing I could do or help with and 2/It was becoming increasingly destructive to my own wellbeing and sanity.

Anyway, anecdotal experience aside, truly I hope Matt conquers this and he receives whatever help he needs to do so. He's enormously talented but no amount of record sales or perceived success is worth sacrificing one's health for.

the piece in the press today is clearly a press release - talking as it does about the success of his albums etc - I don't know who put it out on his behalf but there is no doubt in my mind that it was a release from his camp rather than a piece of investigative journalism or a leak from the Priory. I think it's general procedure these days to give this stuff to the press in return for being left alone rather than allowing them to find out for themselves and run more sensationalist stuff. This does suggest that he has someone controlling his PR even if he is without a manager at the moment

I know a little about this, having had an ex who turned out to be alcoholic and subsequently went to rehab. They call it cross-addiction IIRC, in that often one addiction gets replaced by another. In my ex's case, it was from alcohol to sleeping pills and eventually back again. It's a really terrible, soul-destroying thing to witness and be around and I do wonder whether the stuff with the manager that I've picked up on here just reading the last couple of pages is related to that - certainly I eventually had to cut ties because 1/there was absolutely nothing I could do or help with and 2/It was becoming increasingly destructive to my own wellbeing and sanity.

Anyway, anecdotal experience aside, truly I hope Matt conquers this and he receives whatever help he needs to do so. He's enormously talented but no amount of record sales or perceived success is worth sacrificing one's health for.[/quote]

Thanks for this insight, interesting. I guess if you have an addictive personality it can come out in many different forms.

Another visitor popping in to say how saddened I am by today's Matt news. It is a very BRAVE person to admit they have a problem and seek help and especially when they are in the spotlight. I hope the love of his fans and family will see him through and he will be back to a better and healthier version of Matt in time for his tour

It's lovely to see all the supportive comments here from non- regular posters- I expected the regulars to be sympathetic and supportive. I hope he's feeling the love. Like many here, it was no real surprise, in fact it's a bit of a relief to know that he's recognised the problem and hopefully he's getting all the help he needs. It definitely read as a press release to me. It could of course be Will behind the contact with the press even from the other side of the world. I'd like to think that any split was down to tough love. The 28 day thing sounds a bit short too. I hope he doesn't go back too soon. It must be really difficult to go from working full on for over 3 years to suddenly having very little to do.

Re the twitter comments, which I haven't seen, were the critical ones from those with an axe to grind?

Deleted - never mind!