Celebs Go Dating star Jon Lee breaks down in tears as he reveals his mother feared he was dead after S Club 7 singer ‘went missing’ for two years

Jon Lee has recalled going ‘completely off the rails’ as he emotionally opened up about his father’s tragic death on Celebs Go Dating on Thursday. 

The S Club 7 star sadly lost his father in 2019, after he was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. 

Speaking in Ibiza on the show, Jon, who was very close to his dad, told dating experts Anna Williamson and Dr Tara that he ‘lost the plot’ after the difficult time.

The star revealed that his dad had been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease at the same time he found out his boyfriend had been unfaithful the entire time they were together.

He recalled: ‘I had an emotional slap from this relationship, and then that happened. And I hadn’t quite recovered myself from that, and then that happened as well and everything fell apart.’

Holding back tears, he said: ‘Within the first year, he’d completely lost the ability to move, he couldn’t speak, he had to be fed through a tube in his stomach. 

Jon Lee has recalled going ‘completely off the rails’ as he emotionally opened up about his father’s tragic death on Celebs Go Dating on Thursday

The S Club 7 star sadly lost his father in 2019, after he was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease and at the same time of his diagnosed Jon found out his boyfriend had been unfaithful the entire time they were together

‘He couldn’t talk to me. To go out like that, I literally lost the plot. I thought, ‘What the f**k is the point?’ It broke my heart.’

Explaining on how he dealt with the pain, Jon continued: ‘I went out, I was taking loads of drugs. I went completely off the rails. That got to a point where I had to make a decision. I had to sort myself out or it wasn’t going to end well.’

He then recalled packing a bag, and never going back to his home, he said: ‘I wrote to my mum, I sent her my front door key. I wrote her a note saying I don’t know where I’m going, I don’t know what I’m doing, but I need to sort myself out.’

The former popstar then left the country for four years, telling the agents how he didn’t even speak to his mum for two of them. 

‘She didn’t know where I was. She said every time the phone rang she thought it was going to be the police saying, ‘We found Jon and he’s dead,’ he said. 

Breaking down in tears, he added: ‘That’s my biggest regret, that I caused her…’      

It comes days after Jon revealed he hasn’t had sex in six years during the opening episode of the dating show. 

The singer recently opened up on his ‘traumatic’ dating past that made him swear off looking for love.

And as he dipped his toes back into the dating game, Jon confessed to the shocking revelation.

Explaining on how he dealt with the pain, Jon continued: ‘I went out, I was taking loads of drugs. I went completely off the rails. That got to a point where I had to make a decision. I had to sort myself out or it wasn’t going to end well’

He then recalled packing a bag, and never going back to his home, he said: ‘I wrote to my mum, I sent her my front door key. I wrote her a note saying I don’t know where I’m going, I don’t know what I’m doing, but I need to sort myself out’

The former popstar then left the country for four years, ‘She [his mum] didn’t know where I was. She said every time the phone rang she thought it was going to be the police saying, ‘We found Jon and he’s dead’

In his opening VT, he said: ‘I’ve been single for six years and in that times I’ve been celibate as well.’

Speaking about his ‘ideal man’, he said: ‘Someone who is a bit rough around the edges but seems like a quite, nice and fun guy.’

Jon revealed to Daily Mail his Celebs Go Dating stint followed a series of ‘traumatic’ dating experiences which saw him nearly swear off finding love for good. 

He said: ‘I thought [after] my last relationship, I was just like, “I’m done”, I just really did not want to date at all. 

‘I thought I was very happy being single, I was single for six years, very, very happily single for six years. 

‘You know when it’s just traumatic, you’re just like, “I don’t want to do that anymore”, so yeah, it was kind of a big thing for me to come and do this. 

‘My mate said, “If you don’t do this, you’re going to end up single forever”.’

His friend’s advice gave him the courage he needed to make his last do or die attempt at romance on Celebs Go Dating.

‘It was sort of like… what can really go wrong? So, I thought I might as well give it one last hurrah’, Jon explained.  

Getting to the point where he feels ready to look for love again has taken a lot of work. 

The musician recently opened up publicly, for the first time, to Daily Mail, about his lifelong battle with addiction, which nearly killed him and erased a good chunk of his adult life. 

Jon started out as a a child star on the West End aged 12, before being plucked from thousands of fresh-faced hopefuls to be part of the hugely successful S Club 7 when he was only 16. 

He had dabbled in softer drugs during his pop star years and readily admitted he used alcohol to ‘help me be the person I thought I had to be’. 

But it was only in his thirties – when his pop career seemed like a distant dream, and he was pursuing a career in musical theatre – that he was introduced to crystal meth.

The musician recently opened up publicly, for the first time, to MailOnline, about his lifelong battle with addiction, which nearly killed him and erased a good chunk of his adult life

Jon pictured with his former bandmates Bradley McIntosh, Rachel Stevens, Jo O’Meara and Tina Barrett

He found himself sectioned, having the neighbours call the police on him and intentionally overdosing on GHB in hopes of taking his own life. 

The musician explained how bad it got at one point: ‘I didn’t even recognise myself at that time. 

‘Sometimes, in the midst of one of the psychotic episodes where I’d be smashing my flat up with a hammer, I’d catch sight of myself in the mirror and say: “What the f***?”.

‘I’d have a moment of lucidity, thinking: “I was a successful young man, I had a brilliant career, incredible life. What am I doing?”‘

Jon has since recovered, with the help of his three rescue dogs, moving to Cornwall to live next door to his mother, sister and nieces and returning to perform S Club gigs with his former bandmate Jo O’Meara. 

He also took a near three-and-a-half-year break ‘just walking’ across various European cities, completely cut off from his family and friends, funded by income from rental properties he bought in his S Club years.  

Dating could only come after this kind of complete stabilisation, he has since confessed to Daily Mail, ahead of his appearance on Celebs Go Dating. 

‘When you go into a relationship or you start a relationship, you need to be 100 per cent comfortable and happy with who you are’, he said. 

‘If you’re going into it and you’re kind of all over the place and you’re looking for someone to fix you in some way, you’re doomed, you have to be solid when you go into it.

‘And someone needs to add your life not support it, because then if they’re gone, then you’re f***ed. And that was another reason I’ve been single for so long.’ 

Celebs Go Dating is available to watch on E4 and to stream on Channel 4.