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Jake Humphrey has opened up about living in 'permanent fear' while grappling with anxiety and imposter syndrome.
The TV presenter, 47, previously described his younger years as 'physical, mental and general humiliation' in an extract from his new memoir.
Those devastating experiences have stayed with him into adulthood.
He now describes himself as a 'catastrophiser' and admits he constantly thinks it could 'all end tomorrow.'
Jake's first major brush with anxiety came when he started at CBBC 25 years ago.
In a new interview, he revealed that fear, anxiety, and imposter syndrome still affect him today.
Jake Humphrey has opened up about living in 'permanent fear' while grappling with anxiety and imposter syndrome
The TV presenter, 47, previously described his younger years as 'physical, mental and general humiliation' in an extract from his new memoir
He told The Mirror: 'I still have fear, anxiety, imposter syndrome - still think it could all end tomorrow.
'But now, my two anxieties really revolve around health and kids.'
His anxiety has also affected his career. At the start of his F1 job, the pressure was so intense that he nearly quit on day one.
He said: 'I stood there, I looked at Steve [Rider] and I thought, I need to quit before I even begin. There's no way my ability can handle hosting F1.'
Thankfully for Jake, he didn't hand in his notice and went on to host the sport for BBC for four seasons.
He then joined BT Sports in 2013, presenting football until 2023.
Jake previously spoke of how he was unlikely to return to presenting football after receiving a barrage of hate on social media.
The former face of BT Sport's football coverage left the company upon its re-brand to TNT Sports, replaced by Laura Woods as the front of Premier League and Champions League shows.
Jake was the face of the former BT Sport's Premier League and Champions League coverage for a number of years
He began focusing more on his podcast, High Performance, in which he interviews a number of guests about their journeys to success.
But he received widespread criticism during his time with BT Sport, now TNT Sports, and was often targeted online by fans watching shows he was on.
Speaking exclusively to The Athletic, Jake described his fear of online abuse, and revealed that he is likely to have turned his back on a career that didn't bring him too much joy.
'I still get triggered with things like this because my head goes, 'You have this great conversation, you've been really honest. What headline do they pick?' he said. 'Because that can then just bring me more heat, more hate.
'In some ways, it makes you think, 'What's the point even talking about this stuff?' But then I think I should talk about it, because this is a lived experience that I wouldn't want someone else to live.
'It's hard when you're just going to work to try to earn your money and pay your mortgage and feed your kids, and you're getting pelters from people who assume you hate their football club, or that you're not very good at your job.
'That ground me down. I'm just not very good at dealing with that sort of stuff. I remember saying to Gary Lineker, 'How do you deal with that?'. And he said, 'I don't care about it, it bounces off me'.
'I would go, 'Yeah, I'm gonna feel the same', but I just couldn't. I never felt comfortable with that sort of criticism, because I don't understand it. For someone to think I'm not very good at my job is fine but some of it strayed into bullying territory.
'It would have to be something really interesting to tempt me back. I love doing big events that test my skills as a broadcaster, but the constant, relentless, sausage-factory type approach of just doing football match after football match? Probably no, on reflection.'
Jake has been married to his wife Harriet since 2007
Jake has been married to his wife Harriet since 2007.
Jake and Harriet met at Liquid Nightclub in Norwich at a Phats and Small gig, with the former BBC star describing her as the 'most beautiful women I'd ever seen'.
The pair share children Florence and Sebastian and Jake previously took to Instagram with an emotional post to mark their 25th anniversary as a couple in August 2024.
He wrote: 'Harriet is the most loyal, tolerant, ego-free, encouraging, humble, devoted, determined, brave and brilliant person I've ever met. She's the best of us all.'
'Love starts as a feeling, but then becomes a choice and Harriet - I find myself choosing you more every day. Happy 'day we met' anniversary xxx'.
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