Bryony Gordon's Mad World Podcast with Frank Bruno

Frank Bruno has spoken of the “bullying” he suffered after his public breakdown in 2003, saying: “Neighbours were very very horrible about [me] being sectioned.”

Speaking to Bryony Gordon for her award-winning podcast, Mad World, the former boxer said there was a lack of understanding surrounding mental health issues at the time. 

“That mentality at the time was like if you’re sectioned and everybody knew in your workplace that you were sectioned, people would start talking about you and start taking the mickey out of you, and didn’t really understand about people having a breakdown mental disorder like schizophrenia,” he said. 

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“People would say that you was bonkers but now people are being a little bit more understanding and sympathetic because everybody’s coming out and saying ‘I feel you.’ Years ago, everybody be bullying each other - look at that nutter, and they be talking about them...but everybody’s got some form of mental disorder here and there, it’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

Bruno, 56, has been sectioned three times and said he’d been diagnosed with bipolar disease - “but I don’t think I’ve got bipolar at all. I had a breakdown.”

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Before the first time he was sectioned, his marriage had ended and he was struggling to cope. “Sometimes when a man had a woman, and you’ve had certain different things done for you and set things, and the man left by himself...some men can’t cope with that to pay bills or whatever,” he said. “I was just left by myself and I just couldn’t handle it - just couldn’t handle it at all...I was left in a mess.”

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He also spoke of his childhood and the effect his dyslexia had on him. “I didn’t realise that I was dyslexic, so if someone asked me to spell something I would get aggressive and argumentative,” he said. “I had three sisters, I had two brothers, and they were high in their jobs and they were doing very very well for themselves, but my mum, God rest her soul, she always said ‘you’re stupid’. I didn’t mean to be stupid but I just couldn’t put it together in school.”

Bruno, who won 40 out of 45 fights in his career, said he was now in a good place and was looking after himself.