Love Island star Chris Hughes has launched the #DontBottleItUp campaign to encourage men to speak out about mental health.
He has become an ambassador for CALM, Campaign Against Living Miserably, a charity dedicated to preventing male suicide. Together with CALM and Topman, Chris launched #DontBottleItUp on World Mental Health Day, 10 October, urging men to open up.
This all follows an announcement earlier in the week that Chris was releasing L’Eau De Chris, bottled water infused with his tears. Now, it turns out that the bottled up tears actually symbolise the statistic that 84% of men in the UK say they bottle up their emotions.
Chris announced the campaign on Twitter, playing with the name L’Eau De Chris to reveal the ‘ludicrous’ statistic that suicide is the biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK.
L'Eau de Chris? No, ludicrous. However you open up, just #DontBottleItUp.
RT my campaign w/ @thecalmzone & @topman https://t.co/4tCEx76vY0 pic.twitter.com/8Vg4VXwNKo
— Chris Hughes (@chrishughes_22) October 10, 2017
The L’Eau De Chris campaign had most people, including us, fooled when it was initially advertised. Although the tear-infused water isn’t actually real, the limited edition L’Eau De Chris water bottles are still being auctioned to raise money in support of #DontBottleItUp. You can find out more about the campaign here.
CALM are also asking people to share the #DontBottleItUp film in support of the campaign. As Chris poses topless in the film, his image sends a hugely important message that ALL kinds of men should be able to speak out about their mental health.
Chris has received much praise online for the campaign. Previous X Factor contestant Jake Quickenden and rugby player Petrus du Plessis tweeted their support for a serious issue that needs speaking about.
https://twitter.com/JakeQuickenden/status/917683928093347840
This is the best advert for mental health I’ve ever seen! ?? So speak up!! #DontBottleItUp #MentalHealthDay https://t.co/H8i9VoAf1n
— Petrus du Plessis (@PetrusduPlessis) October 10, 2017
It’s fantastic to see Chris becoming an advocate for speaking up and hopefully he will inspire many other men to do so. During his time in Love Island, Chris was not afraid to display his emotions on the show and often cried on camera. After leaving the villa, he also spoke out about his experiences with anxiety and panic attacks and the help he found in hypnotherapy.
The #DontBottleItUp campaign comes as part of an ongoing movement, especially in the UK, which aims to normalise conversations about mental health. A lot of awareness has been raised by royals Princes William and Harry along with Catherine the Duchess of Cambridge who launched the Heads Together campaign this year.
Make sure you support #DontBottleItUp and let us know your thoughts with a tweet over at @CelebMix.