‘Tipping point’: Grant Denyer details shock drug hallucinations

The Gold Logie winner has opened up about the toll “hardcore” pain medication took on his life — and the moment his wife “nearly left me”.

Grant Denyer has opened up about the toll pain medication took on his life after breaking his back in a monster truck crash in 2008.

Speaking on his 2Day FM breakfast show with Ed Kavalee and Ash London, Denyer revealed how the “hardcore” pain medication he was prescribed while bed-bound resulted in horrific hallucinations.

“You go to a hospital, they fix the injury but they don’t equip you with the skills to get through the next bit, the recovery,” he explained.

“With the recovery comes a lot of medication, they don’t tell you the effects that the medication can have on you because that is worse than the injury itself.”

Denyer described how he would “automatically” have nightmares featuring his “deepest, darkest fears” every time he went to sleep.

Grant Denyer. Picture: Nigel Hallett

“I could barely walk, so I had a dream and then I woke up, I believed we were in the middle of a home invasion … I’d go to fight off people that weren't there right? That’s one case,” Denyer said.

The Gold Logie winner said his hallucinations put his wife Chezzi Denyer “through the wringer,” with him once accusing her of going to London without him.

“I’m lucky she’s still here because I put her through the wringer. I’ve said this before, I said a lot of horrible stuff that I feel bad about,” he said.

But the worst episodes came when the pain medication prompted Denyer to go through an “escaping period”.

The Gold Logie winner praised his wife for sticking through him during the difficult time. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

“I was down the street in my undies — this is Castlereagh Street in the city (in Sydney) — trying to find scotch, in my undies,” he said.

“The tipping point, where my wife nearly left me, I was missing for quite a long time now, a couple of hours … I was asleep in the emergency fire escape in a high-rise building, sleeping on the floor in my undies next to a human poo.

“I was almost cuddled up to someone’s faeces in the spooning position.”

Denyer paid tribute to his “beautiful wife” Chezzi during an emotional speech after winning the Gold Logie last year.

“Family Feud came along for me in my life at a time I really wasn’t quite sure if I’d even wanted to,” he said, fighting back tears.

Grant Denyer, presenter of Family Feud, poses with his Gold Logie award. Picture: AAP Image/Dan Peled

“I wasn’t particularly in a very good place. I wasn’t very well. I was in a bit of a hole. I was a bit sad. I was a bit lost and Family Feud came along … in fact I was very unwell at that particular time and Family Feud gave me a ladder out of that hole and I am very lucky to have had it.

“It gave me my mojo back. It gave me some courage and I rebuilt myself. It gave me a new attitude and I figured out it is never too late to improve yourself, to be kind to other people and to know that you can always be a better you and you can have a much better positive influence on other people. So Family Feud, thank you very much, you saved me.”

Denyer elaborated about his dark times recovering from the 2008 injury in an interview with The Daily Telegraph, revealing he “might not be here” except for his kids.

“It was a time where I didn’t really give a s**t whether I lived or died. I felt like I had nothing to live for,” he said.

“I reckon if I didn’t have my daughter at that particular point, I might not be here.”