"This is serious": Grant Denyer's health warning
Grant Denyer has shared a doctor's serious warning about his health, after years of pushing himself "to the limit".
Speaking candidly on the Along For The Ride podcast, Denyer talked about his lifelong love for high-speed car racing while continuing his job as a TV host.
After years appearing on shows such as Sunrise, Family Feud, Australia’s Got Talent, and Dancing With The Stars, Denyer admitted his TV success meant he “could do whatever I wanted from wherever I wanted.”
“(On Sunrise), if I wanted to stand at Uluru tomorrow, I could,” he said, describing those years as “the greatest time of my life.”
“If I wanted to wrestle a crocodile in the Top End the day after, I did. It was limitless. In three and a half years I had something like 750 flights."
“You were in a different part of the country every single day."
“I was addicted to the success of the ratings, and we were really pushing the envelope, and (eventually) I ran into an absolute heap.”
During those years, Denyer was living a whirlwind life, as he was working in the fast-paced world of television during the week, and also racing cars at the weekend, so eventually his body began to shut down.
“I wasn’t listening to my body; I had massive chronic fatigue,” Denyer said.
“The hard part is that when you’re operating out of adrenaline every day, which live broadcasting gives you, let alone all the stunts you’re doing, you’re depleting everything."
“There was a point there where I went to the doctor and they examined my organs and tested them all and said they were running at about seven per cent."
“And they said, ‘if you don’t do something, drastically, you’re going to die, and soon.’"
“That’s when I was like, holy s***, this is serious, I need to do something about this."
“I was trying to push on and I realised I just had to give in to it - forget about television, forget about success, forget about ratings - and just focus on my health, because it wasn’t going to end well.”
After the brutal wake up call, Denyer scaled back on his commitments and slowed down, focusing on being a family man, while still pursuing his love of car racing occasionally.
He said, “If I just sat on the couch and did nothing, is that living a life?”
Image credits: Instagram