Entertainment
Ant Middleton not into a celebrity lifestyle but counts ‘like-minded’ stars Liam Payne and Rebel Wilson as friends-Rachel Corcoran-Entertainment – Metro
The author on overcoming ‘walls’.
Ant Middleton talks about how to become your best self (Picture: Rex/Metro.co.uk)
The author and TV personality, 42, on ‘hitting walls’ in prison, juggling
work with family time and having no real social life.
What inspired your new book, The Wall?
It’s something I thought was necessary because we look at failure and setbacks as negative, yet it’s the best way to learn.
When I hit a wall it’s sometimes because I’m too comfortable resting on my laurels, I’ve forgotten my roots or got lost with my ego. Over the years, I’ve learned we’re all human, we all have walls.
If people understand that, and that perfection doesn’t exist, you can progress at being a better version of who you are. No matter how mentally strong and physically capable I look on social media or TV, that’s just a fraction of who I am.
So what is ‘the wall’?
It’s not just something we hit when we’re at rock bottom – we could hit one every week, month or ten-20 times a year.
You might be a positive person but all of a sudden spiral into a negative headspace because of something you’ve not dealt with. It might be as small as having an argument with your wife and you can’t move on because it’s affecting your whole environment.
Or as big as dealing with the loss of a loved one. Recognise it, be honest with yourself and the people around you and go at it together.
What’s been your biggest wall so far?
I’ve had loads. I’ve had some huge successes but some deep failures. I got myself in a sticky situation climbing Mount Everest. Sometimes I bite off a bit more than I can chew. Not getting things right as a father. Going to prison [for a nightclub fight] was a huge wall I hit.
Leaving the military was, too – you have to reidentify yourself, refind a purpose and a belonging. I thought I was the best soldier in the world so I’d be the best civilian in the world. There are loads of things we get wrong.
You’re now a multimillion-selling author…
People say my books are easily laid out and it’s how I think. I’m not a complicated man, I process things very simply. I control what I can and don’t what I can’t. I’m not reinventing the wheel. I’m removing the complication and BS that goes on in the world.
Do you encourage your kids to be hardcore?
No, I have a lot of fun with my children. They are my purpose in life. They learn from what they see, so when I’m in the gym my daughter will do a routine on her gymnastics bar.
Or my son will do press-ups with me. We’ve got a nice garden, so they have the freedom to run around and have fun. If I sat inside on my phone all day, they would too.
Ant Middleton and his wife Emilie have been married for 17 years (Picture: Doug Peters/EMPICS Entertainment)
You’re Down Under a lot filming SAS Australia. How long are you away for?
Six to eight weeks at a time. I’ve just got a new contract with Channel Seven and also picked up a new commission there called Million Dollar Island. I’ve just come back from K2, where I was for four weeks. But that’s the sacrifice I make in order to do what I do.
I’ve made the mistake of prioritising work over my family before in the military. My eldest lives in Portsmouth and is training to be an electrician but I’ve got two younger children and two older children at home so I’m non-stop until 9pm, then I have a quick hour with Emilie [Ant’s wife] before bed.
More: Sixty Seconds
Where would you be without Emilie?
When they say behind every good man is an even better woman, it’s so true. Because, without her, I wouldn’t be able to do what I do. But we’re so compatible.
Emilie loves being there for the children. She didn’t put them into nursery because she wanted to raise them herself.
I love that but in order for me to be me and pass the best version of me on to my children, I need to get out and test myself. So I’m very lucky. We’ve been married for 17 years now, together for 19 and we still have a good laugh together.
Ant and Rebel Wilson starred together in Sky’s Straight Talking (Picture: Sky
What do you do that most impresses your family? Was it hanging out with Liam Payne and Rebel Wilson?
It’s funny because I don’t get involved in the celebrity lifestyle too much. I’m too busy and don’t have many friends. But you attract like-minded people and Liam Payne and Rebel Wilson are good friends.
We appreciate each other’s lifestyles. I’m there for them when they need me and vice versa. I love MMA and boxing so I incorporate my social life with going to a fight. Apart from that, my social life is pretty non-existent.
Liam Payne, pictured in 2021, is a good mate of Ant (Picture: Rex/Shutterstock)
You also have a new podcast called Ether…
A lot of people said, ‘You’d be brilliant on a podcast.’ So I wanted to do my own, not with celebrities but giving a voice to people in managerial positions working to keep this country going: in the NHS, construction, education, tackling sexual violence, the police force.
Things are so divisive and I want to find common ground, to bring back facts and a bit of common sense. Some of the conversations… wow. My beliefs have been swayed through hearing from the horse’s mouth.
Ant Middleton’s The Wall: The Guide To Help You Smash Self-Doubt And Become The True You (HarperCollins) is out now
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