Luke Chadwick: 'It's worth going through the torment if it helps others'

The former Manchester United winger on the fallout from discussing jokes about his appearance affecting his mental health

It says a lot about Luke Chadwick that he ended up feeling bad when he saw Nick Hancock apologising on BBC Breakfast for making fun of the former Manchester United winger’s looks on They Think It’s All Over all those years ago. “It made me feel a little bit guilty,” Chadwick says. “It looked so uncomfortable. Obviously people had given him stick and even though whatever happened years ago happened it wasn’t an eye for an eye. The apology is completely accepted but it’s not something I was searching for.”

There is no hint of bitterness about Chadwick during a conversation about his days at United, how his mental health suffered when he became a figure of fun on a popular quiz show and the importance of learning to love himself. While he is no longer the painfully shy teenager who once hid away from the world, revenge was not on his mind when he tweeted about the taunts this month and opened up about They Think It’s All Over in subsequent media appearances. The apologies from Hancock, the show’s former presenter, and Gary Lineker, a team captain, were nice, but Chadwick just wants people to know that it is good to talk.

Related: Nick Hancock says he is 'appalled' at himself for mocking Luke Chadwick

I’d rather people close to me were happy, even if it meant I was unhappy a little bit

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