Ciara Kelly
The narrative that Huw Edwards’ well-documented depression caused his sexual exploitations raised alarm bells with me from the start
It’s hard to look at Huw Edwards and not think — irrespective of the outcome of his court case — that he has thrown his whole life away and it looked from the outside like he had a pretty good one. He was not only one of the highest profile, highest paid broadcasters in the UK but he was also liked, respected and trusted generally by his family and colleagues, it seems — and the greater public too.
I’m reminded of that scene in Extras where David Bowie tells the angsting Ricky Gervais character Andy — “Your problem is you want fame AND respect when it’s much easier to have one OR the other” — very few people achieve both, most have to choose between the two. Edwards was one of the few who actually managed it.
Last year when this story first broke — of a high profile BBC presenter engaged in inappropriate behaviour with a male teenager — after the teenager’s mother complained to the BBC about it, there was much speculation as to who it might be, with several high-profile stars stating publicly it wasn’t them. Not until Edwards’ wife, TV producer Vicky Flind finally ended rumours by stating it was in fact her husband of 30 years, the “family man and devoutly religious” Edwards, did anyone quite believe it.
And I must say when we first heard the story, I thought the narrative from the Edwards was quite unusual. This was at a time when the youth in question was said to be in his late teens and over the age of consent (the Met Police saying then that nothing illegal had taken place). At that time the couple were putting on a united front and saying that Edwards’ well-documented problems with depression were a central part of the issue. They called for privacy as he was being admitted to a mental health facility for treatment. As someone who treated people with depression for two decades, I must say I’ve never ever seen it make someone become gay or bisexual, which seemed to be somehow the implication; that Edwards was messaging this youth sexually because of his mental health. I have, however, on many occasions, seen depression in people struggling when they were in the closet trying desperately to hide their sexuality — which is a very hard road and seemed much more likely to be the case here.
It’s thankfully been a very long time since I’ve heard anyone try to frame someone’s sexuality, if gay or bi, as a mental health issue or pathologise it in this way, so it all seemed very odd to me. I remember thinking at the time that in a year’s time, the couple would be separated — because what he was running away from and trying to hide was now out in the open.
In fact, I mused, it wouldn’t surprise me to find him wealthy and in a new relationship, while she was left wondering why she’d stood so firmly beside him in the first place.
That was of course before there was any question of sexualised images of young children being part of the issue, which puts a very different complexion on things.
Whilst some people view paedophilia as another sexual orientation, the fact that its focus is children, who are by definition too young to consent to or desire the sexual attention of adults means that it isn’t. It’s a form of abuse, exploitation and often assault and shouldn’t be viewed as anything but. What’s very clear in all this, however, is there’s very little that sex won’t make some people do.