Hollyoaks Owen Warner talks mental health: Im on a constant break from social media

The I’m a Celebrity star discussed anxiety and relaxation techniques with HELLO!

We know Owen Warner for his role as Romeo Nightingale in Hollyoaks and for starring in , and the actor spoke about his mental health in an exclusive interview with HELLO!.

To raise awareness for World Mental Health Day, Owen opened up about his personal journey with anxiety and revealed how he is affected by negative comments on social media.

Owen, 24, joined his good friend and fellow star Jill Scott in Zizzi’sseries, who have partnered with the Mental Health Foundation. In the video below, the pair discuss their experiences with anxiety.   

He told HELLO! of anxiety: “It’s something that I and lots of my friends and family have been affected by, and it's something that we all deal with on a daily basis. So, to be part of a campaign that's bringing awareness to it is quite special.”

Owen, let's talk about mental health. What is your experience of anxiety?

Owen: It's been a wide range of things. With social media, you always feel like you've got to be a certain person and put certain things out there, but some people feel too vulnerable to share a side [to themselves]. So, it leads you to take a step back. That can be quite a dominant thing.

Then it's a lot of stress and anxiety with different aspects of life. Nothing that's major and overpowering - I've had that in the past - but nowadays I've got such a nice network around me that I can go to whenever I need help.

What do you do if you are feeling anxious?

A whole range of things. Sometimes I just go to the gym, and I do a nice little workout. I clear my head and meditate, or I call a friend or family.

It's just one of those things where you've always got to listen to your body and decide what you need. Some days you might not feel like training, you might need to just to chill and relax.

Listen to what your body needs, whether you need to rest, need a distraction, or need to get a bit of fresh air. Just always feed your body and your mind with what you feel like and look after yourself. That's my routine.

I meditate probably four or five times a week. It's lovely, I put on some relaxing music and just sit and clear my mind. We're a generation of info-obesity; we’ve got so much going on all the time, so it's nice just to stop and think of nothing. Finish thoughts from throughout the day, clear your mind, relax and reset yourself.

What are your thoughts on social media and mental health?

I think the pros are that if the world was full of nice, lovely people, it would be amazing because there would be a whole support network of strangers and friends, and you'd be able to keep in touch with people. It'd be such a beautiful place.

However, the world isn't like that. Unfortunately, there's a lot of jealousy out there. There are a lot of people that want to niggle and put people down, and because of that it leads to people trying to impress each other, trying to get one up on each other, and people feeling like they can't show their most vulnerable self out there.

Do you ever take a break from social media?

I mean, to be honest, I'm on a constant break from it. I've got my notifications off, so I don't see anything that pops up on my phone. I only post when I feel like there's something I want or need to post about. I rarely go on there to post or message because I’ve got a phone number – anyone who needs me can text me.

I've got to a space in my head where I don't need to keep putting stuff out there. If I don't feel like posting, then it's all right not to post. It's all right to live your life and look up around you.

It can be so indulgent. Everyone's so focused on making sure the virtual world’s great and fantastic that you sort of lose sight of the real world.

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Being in the public eye, do you want to read comments on your social media pages or would you rather not see them?

There are pros and cons to it. It's such a shame - it would be such a great place to interact with people who are fans of shows I’ve been on and give them that special moment of connection. But if you do that, someone might want to give you some negative stuff.

You'll have 100 positive comments and one negative comment will be the one that you're lying in bed thinking about that will go around in your head.

You want to reply to them and show them that you appreciate them watching [your shows], but also, you then make yourself vulnerable to those negative comments, and it's whether you can put yourself in that position or not.

What’s your advice to teenagers going on social media who may be experiencing anxiety?  

It's always easier said than done, but just put your phone down, turn it off and focus on what's around you because that virtual world is exactly that – it’s virtual. It's not real. Hopefully you'll have a family, friends, a network around you, and it’s just so much better.

My grandparents are a massive inspiration to me. They forget where their phones are and leave the house without them – that’s the best way to be.

You’re great friends with Jill Scott. Does she help you with your mental health if you're not feeling great?

Yeah, Jill helps me with everything. She's like my big sister. She's only about 20 minutes down the road from me. It's so nice, I can just nip around and see her.

I would have been going crazy in [the jungle] if it wasn't for Jill. Everyone had good fun and a good laugh together but me and Jill could be immature together. It felt like we were little kids in this whole camp full of adults. It was nice to have that escape with her.

We loved watching you on I’m a Celeb! Was the jungle as you were expecting it to be?

 No, not at all. I thought they'd give me biscuits in a back room, or a little protein shake! Absolutely ruthless. It feels like a military boot camp. All of us were saying, ‘What have we signed up for? This is crazy.’ I didn’t think it would be as hardcore as it actually was.

You got on really well with Mike Tindall. Is he still a mate of yours?

Yeah, all of them. I class all of them still as mates. When we were in there, we talked about meeting up every week and doing this and that, but when you leave, everyone's so busy with various their lives - and Mike is one of the very, very busy ones. But yeah, I look up to Mike a lot. I always get asked about Mike and that's obviously a testament to him because he's such a lovely geezer.

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