Fev’s campfire confession: ‘Getting sacked was the best thing that ever happened to me’

UPDATE: FORMER teammate Jonathan Brown has weighed in on Brendan Fevola’s frank jungle confessions, saying getting out of “football club land” was the right choice.

I’M A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here contestant Brendan Fevola has opened up about the mental health problems that effectively ended his AFL career in a frank confession to his Celeb castmates.

Speaking to his fellow contestants during Monday night’s episode, Fev confessed that he suffers from ADHD, but no longer takes medication for the disorder as he’s a “bit more mellow” now.

“I went into rehab — like a mental institution — for 60 days. And now I’m all right,” he said.

In a 2011 Footy Show interview, Fevola revealed he had lost almost a million dollars gambling, an addiction that almost drove him to suicide.

“What brought it on?” comedian Akhmal Saleh asked on the show.

“Everything — drinking, gambling, depression,” Fevola said, stating that he was sacked from playing AFL while he was in rehab.

“[Being sacked] was probably the best thing that ever happened to me though, because then I got out of ‘the bubble’, and I was fine. It was really weird.”

“I’d keep everything in, and then I’d have a drink and I’d act out, because everything was built up.”

The group of celebrities hang out.

“I found it hard to express my feelings — everyone thinks you’re a big, tough footy player, you’re perceived as that. If you’ve got issues, well, you look like a big sook.

“Back then, I was all over the paper — front page, back page — ‘in rehab’.

“Had people out the front of the institution trying to take photos. It was sick.”

Former Brisbane Lions teammate Jonathon Brown said the best thing Fevola could have done was get out of “football club land”.

“It was interesting to see that Fev said it was probably the best thing that happened to him,” Brown said on Nova 100 on Tuesday morning.

“He wouldn’t have thought it at the time, but he got out of the bubble of football club land and he seems to be doing very well now.

“He’s got a beautiful family.”

He said he “would have loved” Fevola to stay at the Lions, but said the club was left with little choice after the star forward was arrested on New Year’s Eve following his boozy antics.

“That was the straw that broke the camel’s back and the footy club decided to sack him. He got full pay though,” Brown said.

“I would have loved Fev to stay, because it was a massive investment (by the club) and me and him had a really good relationship on the field and off the field as well.”

Fevola said on the show that rehab was “a really tough place”.

“You feel so sorry for some of the people in there and their stories,” he said.

“It’s made me stronger. It was the best thing that happened to me.”

Later, fellow contestant Anthony Callea remarked upon Fevola’s decision to share details of his mental health battles.

“It’s public knowledge that he went through rehab, but it’s not often that you get to spend time with someone and talk to someone who has actually gone through rehab,” Callea said.

“I really like Brendan — he has surprised me a little bit.”

Fevola’s campsite confession made for a heartfelt moment in an episode that was otherwise consumed with cricketing legend Shane Warne’s arrival on I’m A Celeb — barely had Warnie’s feet touched the ground than he was plunged into a box of crickets, worms, frogs and other creepy crawlies.

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