Danny Dyer has said it is “so important” for men to talk about issues which are affecting their mental health.
The actor said we are living through “mad times” and the coronavirus pandemic is throwing up problems in people’s personal lives.
He is launching an agony aunt podcast with his daughter Dani called Sorted With The Dyers.
Dyer told the PA news agency: “There’s still that gender thing where men don’t feel natural opening up, talking, and it is something that is so important.
“This mental health thing what’s going on as well at the moment, the pandemic really is just a sideshow to what’s going on really with people’s f****** brains and the anxiety.
“It is tough and you have got to talk about stuff, you have got to get it out there.
“Even if you talk to a f****** tree, talk to something.”
He added that it is “important to be confident in your own voice”, adding that “everyone’s stressing out about something” at the moment.
“It’s dark days isn’t it, it is dark for all of us and I think it is affecting people’s lives to another level, emotionally and financially.”
He said that for the first couple of weeks of the lockdown he was “scared”, adding: “I thought I was going to die, I thought my wife was going to die, my wife’s diabetic.
“I thought my kids were going to die.
“We all had that fear.
“That is the vibe that is going on and that definitely comes through with some of the questions and dilemmas that are coming our way.”
Spotify Original podcast Sorted With The Dyers sees the father and daughter duo talk through problems facing listeners who have written in to ask for advice.
It launches on the streaming platform on Wednesday.