Zara McDermott ‘proud’ of partner Sam Thompson discussing ADHD diagnosis

Zara McDermott has said she is “proud” of her partner Sam Thompson opening up about his attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!

TV personality and radio host Thompson, 31, has discussed with his campmates how he was diagnosed with the condition last year and the challenges he experienced at school.

Earlier this year, The Made In Chelsea star documented his journey of being assessed and diagnosed in the Channel 4 programme Sam Thompson: Is This ADHD?

ADHD is a condition that affects people’s behaviour and may make them seem restless, affect their concentration and cause them to act on impulse, according to the NHS website.

Appearing on ITV’s This Morning on Thursday, his girlfriend and former Love Island star McDermott said: “I think seeing him open up about his ADHD has made everyone, especially all of his family and me, just so proud.

“I think it’s such a difficult thing to talk openly about because there’s so many personal struggles that go alongside ADHD, and a lot of like self confusion (like) ‘Why am I not like someone else?’

“He looks at me and thinks ‘why can I not listen like you, why do not think like you sometimes’ but there’s so many beautiful things that come alongside ADHD and I think that we’ve seen that in the jungle.”

During the show last week, Thompson said in the Bush Telegraph: “I’m not ashamed of having ADHD in any way.

“But I know that I would have felt better about myself at school if I had been diagnosed with it at a younger age.

“Because I really was just like: ‘I just suck at everything.’”

This Morning presenter Emma Willis said she could relate with McDermott as her husband, Busted star Matt Willis who was crowned King of the Jungle in 2006, also has ADHD.

“I think that’s probably part of what drew me to him because he was so charismatic and I think part of that is linked to ADHD because Sam is very much that way as well, he seems to be such a charismatic person”, she said.

Willis added that she “really felt for him” as they showed a clip of Thompson being told to “concentrate” and “calm down” by his campmates while he was cooking on the show.

Asked how Thompson would have taken those remarks, McDermott said: “I think the lovely thing about Sam is that he’s able to not take things too personally.

“He’s able to kind of understand those around him and he wouldn’t have been offended by that…

“It’s important to sometimes bring him back down to earth a little bit but in the right way.

“I think all those voices would have probably overwhelmed him quite a lot.”

The TV star is currently bookmaker Ladbrokes favourite to win the series, having been given odds of 1/2, while they have placed boxer Tony Bellew second at 4/1 odds.

Thompson and Bellew have grown close in the jungle, with McDermott saying: “I think Sam is so good at finding someone who he knows he can wind up just that little bit.

“He’ll never push them too far but he’ll just teeter on the edge. But I think Tony absolutely adores him. I really do.”

I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! continues on Thursday at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.