The Repair Shop’s Jay Blades reveals he hit ‘rock-bottom’ when his marriage broke down and his charity went bust in 2015 – and he spent a week living in his car before tearfully asking a friend for £100 to buy food and ‘survive’
- Furniture restorer, 51, from Hackney, ‘didn’t think he was going to see tomorrow’
- Marriage to ex-wife Jade broke down and his charity Out of the Dark went bust
- Host of BBC’s The Repair Shop says he had a ‘second childhood’ at 45 afterwards
The Repair Shop’s Jay Blades has revealed he hit ‘rock bottom’ after his marriage broke down and his charity went bust – and he spent a week living in his car believing he ‘wouldn’t see tomorrow’.
The modern furniture restorer, 51, who grew up in Hackney, east London, told how he ‘fell down’ around six years ago and tearfully turned to a friend to borrow £100 for food.
In 2015 his High Wycombe-based charity Out of the Dark, which he’d set up with his ex-wife Jade – the mother of his daughter, whom he’d met at 30 while a mature student at Buckinghamshire New University – to help give disadvantaged youngsters practical skills, was forced to close after 15 years due to cashflow problems.
Jay, who also has two children from previous relationships, told how he got in his car and drove as far as he could until he needed petrol, by which point he’d reached Wolverhampton. He then spent a week ‘effectively homeless’ and living in his car in a retail park.
Speaking to Susannah Constantine on her My Wardrobe Malfunction podcast, Jay told how he broke down in tears when he finally asked a friend who he’d sold furniture to in the past for help.
The Repair Shop’s Jay Blades (pictured) has revealed he hit ‘rock bottom’ after his marriage broke down and his charity went bust – and spent a week living in his car believing he ‘wouldn’t see tomorrow’
‘My marriage broke down, my business, my charity, there was a number of young people I had employed. I was a pillar in the community that people used to go to and ask for support in more ways than one,’ he explained.
‘When you hit a certain point in your life that you have to ask for help, and you’re in my position – I was someone who was super strong for everyone, but then I couldn’t ask the people I was strong for to help me build me up, it’s impossible… They look at you and go, “Hold on, if I have to support you, who’s going to support me?”
‘The thing that I did was drive, get away from all that and disappear; I didn’t think I was going to see tomorrow… The first way of me asking for help was to cry. I broke down. I broke down in front of a guy I call my brother now, Gerald Bailey, and I just cried and cried. It’s the first time I ever cried in front of a man.’
Jay admitted it took him a week to build up the courage to ask ‘successful businessman’ Gerald for £100 to buy food and ‘survive’ because he felt so much ‘shame and embarrassment’.
In 2015 Jay’s High Wycombe-based charity Out of the Dark, which he set up with his ex-wife Jade (pictured together in 2013) – the mother of his daughter – to help give disadvantaged youngsters practical skills, was forced to close after 15 years due to cashflow problems
But he was taken aback when Gerald – who had been alerted to Jay’s plight by his ex-wife – replied by offering him a job.
‘I’m crying in his car, he’s got a beautiful car, white leather interior, I hadn’t washed for about a week, I’d been sleeping in my car, and I didn’t smell very good, and he just said to me while I’m crying, “I’ve got a job for you.”
‘In my mind I said, don’t you see me crying? I’m breaking down, I’ve got nothing, like hello, this is me at rock bottom. This is probably one of the weirdest job interviews I’ve ever had.’
Jay told how Gerald then put him up for a fortnight before moving him in with his mother and step-father, where he stayed for a year and experienced ‘a second childhood’.
‘It’s weird what I’m about to say, but by living with them, they gave me life again, they reborn me… at 45 I was experiencing being born again [sic],’ he explained.
Jay set up his new business, Jay&Co, in Wolverhampton, where he now lives with his partner Christine Goodman, who works in marketing
‘They would cook me food, look after me, I would look after them and it was the most beautiful second childhood I had at 45.’
With Gerald’s support, afterwards Jay set up his new business, Jay&Co, in Wolverhampton, where he now lives with his partner Christine Goodman, who works in marketing.
The ethos of Jay&Co is to source vintage pieces of furniture and home accessories and restore or re-imagine them into works of contemporary design.
Around the same time his TV career was beginning to gain momentum. After he featured on Kirstie Allsopp’s Handmade Christmas craft show in 2014, he went on to co-present BBC’s Money For Nothing alongside Sarah Moore, and is now host of The Repair Shop, which first hit screens in 2017.
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