Joe Swash admits 'dark time' in life amid tense clash with Stacey Solomon

Former cast member has opened up about a "really dark time" in his life. He spoke about the experience in a therapy session with on tonight's episode of their documentary series Stacey & Joe.

The show, which launched earlier this month, follows Joe, 43, and Stacey, 35. It had been teased in a preview for the latest episode that the couple during a filming. Joe had previously shared that he wasn't keen on the idea of therapy but did go ahead with it. As well as speaking about his marriage with therapist Natalie, he also discussed the loss of his late father Ricky Swash, . Ricky, who was 39 at the time, had reportedly lived with an undiagnosed heart condition prior to his death.

Asked about his early life, Joe told Natalie: "Mine was quite traumatic. My dad died suddenly overnight. But I sort of witnessed it. And things changed from then y'know - my childhood changed. My home life changed. It's quite hard."

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He added: "Then I was in secondary school and then I found that really difficult. I was always like getting up to mischief, getting in trouble, so I was always just tarred with the naughty kid [label]. It just ... it was just a really dark time."

Natalie said: "I think you think like that quite a lot of the time - y'know, that you're the problem. So that's where we're getting the defensiveness." She speculated that "underneath" Joe gives himself a "really hard time". Responding to her, Joe said: "Maybe. I do feel like the problem."

The discussion came after Joe and Stacey had already spoken about their marriage in the therapy session. Stacey said about their decision to attend it: "We decided together didn't we that it would be a good idea to go see a therapist who specialises in ADHD, because I think sometimes a lot of things we think we're not getting anywhere on, you think have to do with ADHD."

Speaking about his ADHD diagnosis in the session, Joe said: "I do things differently. I'll have a task to do and I'll get distracted. So I never finish anything, which I know must be so frustrating. But in my head, all I'm doing is trying my best to do as much as I can for everybody and a lot of the time, end up pleasing nobody."

Stacey said that he "is putting a lot of effort in" but suggested that, despite him wanting to "support" her, he doesn't always do the tasks she's asked him to do. She said: "He'll do other things that aren't the stuff I'm asking." She added: "You're a great dad and you're an amazing person, but sometimes I don't think you take into consideration all the fires I've got to put out everywhere."

Joe said: "It's so frustrating when I feel like all I am doing is trying to dedicate myself to my family and do everything I possibly can, every minute of the day and then to sit here and listen to the fact that I'm a huge problem." Stacey said that "nobody is saying that", before Joe said: "All I am hearing is that I'm this huge problem in Stacey's perfect life."

Stacey said it was "unfair" to her and Joe said he doesn't hear any "positive stuff about [him] as a person". Stacey said: "I would say this is our biggest issue in our whole relationship is that I cannot say anything without you taking it so personally as an attack on you as a whole person."

"It's about us working together to manage the situation," she later told him. Stacey said she wasn't at the session to "change" her husband, but to "support" who they are.

Natalie went on say: "I think there is some stuff that the diagnosis is exacerbating, but then I think underneath that there's also normal couple stuff." She added: "In terms of communication, expectations." The therapist later said: "It feels like you're both sort of coming to the table with your minds' already made up. 'She's criticising me'. 'I need him to do this. I'm not listened to'. And I wonder if the reality is somewhere in between."

On the way home, Stacey said: "Maybe our issue isn't even anything to do with you having ADHD. Maybe you think it's the ADHD but actually it's a normal part of our communication from whatever's happened in our lives." She said: "I think that would be a massive leap for us if we could hear each other better."

Later in the episode, the couple - who amid the therapy session - reflected on the therapy session. Joe said: "I feel like I got off my chest how I felt and I feel like you got off your chest how you felt." Stacey added: "I feel like we've communicated better just since then." Joe teased that they could attend another session, saying: "I agree. I think we go back and see her, and then just take it step by step."

Stacey & Joe continues next Tuesday at 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. Previous episodes are available on BBC iPlayer.

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