Loose Men star Jordan Banjo reveals ‘secret’ booze battle: ‘It impacted my relationship and my parenting’

Lockdown really took its toll on the Diversity star

Back in February, during an appearance on Loose Men, Jordan Banjo, Pete Wicks, Danny Jones and Craig Doyle discussed a range of topics.

One of the topics discussed was the panelists’ relationship with alcohol and how it has affected their lives.

The star spoke of his relationship with alcohol (Credit: ITV)

Jordan Banjo talks booze battle on Loose Men

During Loose Men, Jordan – on The Chase this weekend (June 1) – explained how he’d never had much of a relationship with alcohol until lockdown.

“I grew up really not around a lot of drinking and it wasn’t for me until I hit lockdown. When I went into lockdown, out of nowhere, I started drinking and then it became a daily thing,” he said.

It just became constant, constant, constant.

“Once it becomes a habit, it’s a hard thing to break. This is going to sound so stupid, but I was 28 when lockdown first hit, and it’s gonna sound so dumb, it was almost like being 16/17…,” he then continued.

“I could just drink this and feel drunk and feel a bit merry, and it just became constant, constant, constant, to the point where in November 2023 – I had to just cut drinking cold,” he then said.

The star opened up on the show (Credit: ITV)

Jordan on breaking ‘habit’ of drinking

Jordan then continued. “I was like, I’m not drinking any more at all, because when I started to get to the point where I don’t know, I was having dinner with my family, with my wife… [like] ‘I’m just gonna take my plate out to the kitchen’ and I’m secretly topping up, hoping I don’t get caught, or I’m up early for radio and I’ll say to my wife: ‘Oh, I’m gonna stay in the spare room so I don’t wake you up,’… and I’m in there having drinks.

“Genuinely I was, and I was like, what am I doing? I’m just sat in bed just drinking at half eight at night on my own, hoping I don’t get caught,” he said.

“For me, it just became one of them things that just snuck up so gradually and I noticed a difference in my relationship, in my parenting and a lot of stuff, because I was just vacant, and a lot of time thinking, I can’t wait till the kids go to bed and I could have a drink,” he then went on to say.

Jordan continued, saying: “I just found myself in that situation out of nowhere, from someone who had never drunk, really at all.

“Now when I speak about it, I can speak about it openly now because my friends and my family know, but a couple of my friends were quite upset. Like: ‘Bro, I had zero idea.’”

Jordan admitted he found himself in the situation ‘out of nowhere’ (Credit: ITV)

Danny Jones ‘didn’t like the person he became’ when drinking

Danny Jones also opened up about his relationship with alcohol, admitting that he didn’t like the person he was when drinking.

“I didn’t like the person I became when I drank,” he said. “Also I’d have like, five Coronas before I went on stage, just to get me through something that I didn’t feel quite mentally ready for,” he then added.

“So, [that beer] became a safety and it became a habit: ‘If I don’t have that, then I might not do a good gig.’ So, yeah you are around it all the time. It’s just, I didn’t like the person I’d become,” he then said.