Craig Charles: I handled fame badly at a young age
The actor and DJ said he was not prepared for his success.
Craig Charles says he handled the limelight “badly” when he shot to fame.
The DJ and actor, 55, who first found fame on the BBC sci-fi comedy series Red Dwarf, told The Big Issue magazine that he was not prepared for his success.
“I was famous when I was quite young. There was no preparation, no fame school where I came from,” he said.
“You’re not taught how to handle it, this sudden influx of wealth and fame. And I handled it all very badly.
“I was unreliable. I was cocky. I was always late. I didn’t prepare things. I used to wing it a lot. I mean, friends can come and go, but enemies, they last a lifetime.”
While he was on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! in 2014, Charles discovered that his older brother, Dean, had died.
He flew home immediately, and the ex-Coronation Street star has previously told how his brother had tried to contact him before he joined the ITV show.
“If I could have one last conversation with anyone it would be my brother Dean,” Charles told The Big Issue.
“He tried to get hold of me just before I went into the jungle.
“We’d not spoken for a few years, there was a family falling out. And I just thought, ‘You know what, I’ll leave it, go and do the jungle thing and I’ll come out and we’ll all be together for Christmas.’
“And he died while I was over there… The doctor said: ‘I’ve got some terrible news to tell you, Craig. Your brother Dean has passed away.’
“So I had to get on a plane straight away. He was so far away. And it took so long to get back. I’d have loved to have had a conversation with him. I’d have loved to have made up.”
The Big Issue, sold by vendors to lift themselves out of poverty, is on sale now.
