Top Aussie reality star’s secret battle behind Insta-perfect life: ‘I used to cut myself’
Australia’s highest profile reality star has opened up about his personal mental health battle. Harry Jowsey has shared his story in the hope of helping others as he makes his mainstream TV debut in Australia.
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From the outside looking in, Harry Jowsey has the perfect ‘influencer’ life.
He’s fit, famous and living the Hollywood life with a steady income. Yet, scratch the surface and the 26-year-old suffers the same insecurities many of us do.
Ahead of his next big reality television hitout, Jowsey has spoken for the first time about his mental health struggles that saw him self-harm as a teenager and as an adult.
“I used to cut the top of my arm instead of the underneath. There is a scar there,” Jowsey said, pointing to a mark on his forearm. “I used to do the top of my arms because I didn’t want my parents to think that I was sad so if I did it at the top, they’d think I’d cut myself running through a bush or something, which was silly.”
He continued: “I was going through a moment and I couldn’t see out of the bubble and there was more recently as well where I had a really dark time and I couldn’t figure out how to get through it. I was in a very toxic relationship where I needed a friend and I needed someone to help me and I didn’t get that support. I went straight back to my therapist and I got it right. So it comes in waves, but there’s never been a moment where I’ve been like, I’m going to end it all now. There has always been light, I knew it was going to come, this is part of that human experience having that moment.”
Jowsey will appear on the upcoming season of The Amazing Race Australia Celebrity Edition on Channel 10 alongside best mate Teddy Briggs.
Among the other 10 teams competing on the show that launches on October 4 are Grant Denyer and wife Chezzi, Alli Simpson and mum Angie, Emma Watkins and sister Hayley and Ben Gillies with wife Jackie.
Each duo is competing for their chosen charity. For Jowsey, that is?
“Mental health and suicide in Australia is a huge topic. I feel like I’ve got a platform and I’ve lost so many friends to suicide, it is kind of scary. The reason I got into this industry was to entertain people, to try to do something good and to make people laugh. So when I got the opportunity to do Amazing Race and it’s all for charity and I get to represent my friends and their families who have lost, it was a no-brainer. I get to make people laugh, test myself and potentially raise $100,000 for charity. It was meant to be.”
Jowsey rose to international fame from appearing on controversial American dating show, The Too Hot To Handle. The buff and goofy Aussie secured social media fame that saw him rise to celebrity status and also Only Fans content creator.
Originally from Yeppoon, in Queensland, he now lives in Los Angeles and has more than 4.2 million followers on Instagram and a further five million on TikTok.
“There was moments where I was really struggling and, being in this position there is a lot of public opinion and people weighing in on you,” he said. “Growing up as a teenager as well, I struggled a lot then but now I’m just I’m so focused on trying and trying to help people through that moment and also be a fun positive impact. I definitely have struggled but I’m trying to turn it into a positive.”
Jowsey famously dated Francesca Farago on Too Hot To Handle and when they broke up, she went on to appear on other reality shows. This week he was announced as a contestant on the 32nd season of Dancing With The Stars in the US along with the likes of actors Mira Sorvino and Alyson Hannigan, model Tyson Beckford, Barry Williams of Brady Bunch fame and Britney Spears sister, Jamie Lynn.
Now single, he has said he won’t settle down again until he finds the woman he will spend the rest of his life with.
“To go to therapy, to learn more about myself and to just be a better boyfriend for my partner,” he explained. “Now that I am single, I don’t want to sleep around like I used to.”
Jowsey is remarkably articulate and open. For someone who has previously copped the ‘playboy edit’, he is very raw and honest with his emotions too.
Sitting down over coffee with Insider, he seems anything but a player.
“There is obviously a lot of judgement with going on a reality show and being I guess a reality star,” he said. “I wouldn’t wish this life on anyone, this life and having to deal with that sort of stuff but it made me a better man and also a better leader for my community because now I know how to help other people through it.”
Hate on social media, he explained, can be extremely difficult. It is the stuff they don’t prepare people for before doing a show like Too Hot To Handle.
“I think the worst of it was when my family got sent scary messages,” he said. “I am pretty fine to deal with whatever because you can restrict comments and block people and it is never from account. I have got a pretty good routine of blocking people but there was one time I was driving and someone messaged saying he was following me and next time I see you I am going to shoot you, he knew where I lived.”
The Amazing Race Australia is an opportunity for Jowsey to pivot in the sense that he is hoping people will see him as a “normal bloke”.
Everything he has done in the public eye to this point has him pegged as a player.
“Going on a dating show and they paint you as a sex addict, it is a hard one to shake,” he said. “That was fine, it helped me build a community and build a lifestyle but I am trying to transition now, trying to get people to understand that I am actually just a regular guy, I am not addicted to sex and I don’t have sex with everyone that I see because it was kind of crazy for a couple of years.”
To be fair, Jowsey was 21 when he debuted on Too Hot To Handle.
“I am really excited for people to get to know my personality instead of … that I love sex,” he said. “I am hoping people really enjoy the show and get a good laugh. People get to see me try and use my brain, which has never happened before.”
Jowsey was studying a double degree in business and art at Southern Cross University when he dropped out to pursue reality TV.
“I think I learn a lot more in life than being in a classroom.”
As for the future, Jowsey is not sure what will happen next. Generally, he is pretty relaxed about life. For sure, he is keen to do “more stuff” at home in Australia. Hosting jobs and acting are interesting to him.
“My heart has been calling me to go back home to Australia and be home and have a family and settle down,” he said. “To be honest, I would love to be a host on Australia’s Got Talent because I don’t have any talent and I feel like it would be so good to be a host of that, like judging people on having actual talents and skills because I feel like it would be so confusing as I can't do anything – I can’t sing, I can’t dance, I am just a big sausage.”
* The Amazing Race Australia Celebrity Edition will premiere on Ten on Wednesday, October 4, at 7.30pm.
* LIFELINE 13 11 14
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