Former Blue Peter presenter Richard Bacon revealed on ITV's This Morning on Monday that he was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 42, earlier this year.

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The TV personality told host Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford - who were filling in for Phillip Scofield and Holly Willoughby - that he had been "causing chaos" for his family and particularly his wife Rebecca, who asked him to seek out medical attention. Bacon also suggested that the diagnosis may help to explain the destructive behaviour of his early career, which led to him getting sacked from Blue Peter for drug use.

“I was causing chaos for my family, and for my wife in particular, on two fronts," he said. "One, it’s going to sound trivial but it actually adds up to quite a lot, a lot of people with ADHD they forget many day to day things. You lose your credit card, your passport, your keys. I once left a passport on a urinal in Italy. There was this constant sense of chaos. Your brain cannot map somehow. That was causing chaos. I was drinking too much and going out too much - and this can also be a side effect of ADHD."

He went on: "the ADHD diagnosis made me understand that chapter of my life a bit more. It’s too simplistic to say that having ADHD makes you take drink or makes you take drugs as a young man… but you’re reaching for stimulants.”

Bacon explained that the diagnosis came about after a friend had discovered he had the disease, which led to him seeing a therapist. He was then given a brain scan and his wife, Rebecca, was asked to fill out an extensive questionnaire about his behaviour.

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He continued: “On the brain scan you can actually see a physical manifestation of the ADHD. There are seven types of ADHD and I have two types over-lapping.”

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This Morning airs weekdays on ITV

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