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Clara Amfo, formerly a DJ at BBC Radio 1, has revealed that her decision to leave the station last year was partly influenced by a period of depression.
Amfo has been open about her past struggles with mental health and anxiety. In a recent appearance on Fearne Cotton’s “Happy Place” podcast, she shared that she has “dealt with deep, deep, deep depression” in her life.
Speaking with her former Radio 1 colleague, she explained that she initially chose to leave the station because she felt “completely satiated” by the role and was keen to avoid it becoming “a chore.”
However, she further disclosed that she experienced depression in 2023 and took a break “to have a little reset” before ultimately deciding to depart permanently.
Amfo joined Radio 1 in 2015, taking over Cotton’s mid-morning slot that same year. She later moved to Annie Mac’s evening show in 2021. Amfo’s departure from the station was finalized in March 2024.
Beyond her radio career, she also participated in “Strictly Come Dancing” in 2020, co-hosted the Brit Awards last year, and regularly presents on BBC One’s “The One Show.”
She told Cotton that her depression became particularly severe at the beginning of 2023.
“Mate, I was in the flipping trenches,” she confessed. “I think I was burnt out, I wasn’t taking care of myself properly, I think I was a bit sort of overwhelmed by life’s weird – not weird, valid – injustices.”
“I just wasn’t feeling great and I was in a bit of a negative headspace, and yeah I was really, really depressed mid-2023, and I took some time off of radio, and just had to have a little reset. And that’s when I decided I was going to leave my show, actually, at the time.”
Cotton, who has previously stated that she left Radio 1 because the job was “ruining her mind,” shared with Amfo that she had also experienced “very, very low mental health in periods.”
Amfo also mentioned other reasons for leaving Radio 1 earlier in the interview, emphasizing her determination not “to resent anything that I do” in her career.
“I don’t ever want anything to feel like it’s being forced or like it’s a chore. And I wasn’t feeling that way, but I want to be able to listen to music as a fan always, rather than as a business,” she explained.
“I want to be able to talk to people on a human level, rather than thinking, I’ve got to get that viral interview clip.”
She recalled a comment Annie Mac made when she left. “She was just like, ‘Yeah babe, I’m just ready to do my next thing’.”
“And I think that’s how I felt. I felt so completely satiated by it and I was like, well, I think there’s nothing new for me to do. I could carry on and do it. I could. But I think one thing I learned is just because you can do something doesn’t mean you always should.”
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