Fair City's Maclean Burke says the hardest thing is to be himself after health diagnosis
The well-known actor, who plays Fair City favourite Damien Halpin, spoke about being diagnosed with ADHD and living with depression in a very frank and open interview
by Mikie O'Loughlin · RSVP LiveFair City star Maclean Burke has bravely opened up about his and ADHD diagnosis and experience with depression.
The actor admitted that the hardest thing in the world is to is be himself, and he finds it easier to hide behind a character on stage or on TV screens.
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Speaking about his depression, Maclean said: "It's always been there. It was always my normal.
"I was able to hide it in that my parents always encouraged me to do everything and be myself.
"So I was very lucky that I got to kind of express myself and go down the road of speech and drama and be a big teddy bear and on the on a stage or play a woman in a dress on stage and stuff like that."
Maclean explained how ADHD has affected and changed his life recently.
He told hosts Muireann O'Connell and Tommy Bowe on Ireland AM: "It's an inability to to do anything, you can literally panic about putting on the toaster in the morning.
"I have like seven to eight different conversations anyway and different things going on, which, we spoke earlier myself and about ADHD, and that was one of the things.
"When I got an ADHD diagnosis about two years ago and for me, that's really connected an awful lot of dots.
"And I started going, 'Ah, okay, that's why I do that'."
Maclean, who plays Carrigstown's Damien Halpin, found that his mental health became a "real issue" as he got older and he struggled to be himself.
He said: "That's why I didn't struggle until later in life, because what I found, the easiest thing in the world for me is to get up on stage and be a character.
"The hardest thing in the world is to be myself. I'll go in and I'll be in front of 2000 people and I'll be jumping around in a dress and it's absolutely fine.
"If I was to do the same thing as I am now and get in front of maybe 10 loved ones, I wouldn't be able to speak."
Maclean urged anyone in the same position as him to seek out professional help.
He said: "I think what's vitally important is obviously to speak about it and reach out to loved ones, but they don't have the answers either.
"I think like if someone was to speak to me about depression, the first thing I'd do is put my arms around them. The second thing I'd do is, where are we going? Where am I driving you to? We need to book a session because professionals have the tools.
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"My mam doesn't have the tools. She's going to cry and put her arms around me. My dad is going to put his arms around me, but that doesn't fix any of the triggers that I'm living with.
"So I think when you talk to professionals, they give you the tools to really, it's a battle, this fight, and it's like a superpower once you start to figure it out."
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