Even though I left the shores of the UK to  permanently live in the US some years ago, there are some habits I simply cannot break .  Or rather do not want to break.  Life my daily fix of The Independent which since it was established back in 1986 has been the flag-bearer of the centre-left  challenging both The Guardian and The Times as the newspaper of record.

Now like so much of contemporary media it is an online only publication which has not diminished its writing one iota like its featured Saturday Interview which always makes for such compulsive reading.  Its subject today was the British openly gay pop singer Will Young who got fame and fortune in the early noughties.  I will confess that although he had made his mark in history by being one of very first successful singers to be proud of his gayness, and eventually bought his East London house from two of my best friends,  I have played little notice of him or his career.  That however will change now .

Young was catapulted into stardom after winning the reality TV Show Pop Idol in 2001.  With it came the disdain of the ubiquitous show judge Simon Cowell, but fortunately the results were not up to him, but to the viewers at home who got to vote.  With the title, Young won a guaranteed a £1 million recording contract with BMG and representation by 19 Management.  He was just 22 years old and at the start of what would be a very successful career.

He had spent his childhood with his prosperous middle class family in leafy Berkshire  ….. just 25 minutes away from Windsor. They could afford to send Will, and his twin brother Rupert to private boarding schools, but instead of benefitting them in what one would have considered was a privileged  life, they were subject to physical and mental abuse .

Even now Young is reluctant to talk about the details despite his candour on other very difficult subjects such as his twin brother.  He has a big set of balls to confront the life and suicide of Rupert despite the ever-present pain of his loss. Young articulates the downward spiral of hs twin’s life in a calm collected manner that doesn’t in any way sensationalize the drama.  He details how Ruperts addiction to alcohol and painkillers made him an impossible roommate, and how at the very end he had no choice than to evict him.

The documentary is not intended to whitewash any of the heartbreaking memories, or just help Will and his family be able to move on.  It simply is. that Will, normally a very private person, rightly decided that it needed to be shared to the world at large to hopefully help others deal with their loved ones facing similar demons.

Be warned there are several scenes that are discomforting and very difficult to watch.  LIke Will sitting with his parents at the kitchen table sifting through old family photographs, still struggling with the disbelieve that Robin has gone. Or the interview with  psychiatrist Prof Julia Sinclair discussing the enormous difficulty in accessing professional help and care, and acknowledging his family’s wealth helped them beat the system..

Its seeing the sheer love in Will’s eyes at every mention of his twin, and the unparralled compassion in which he speaks of the loss, that has you physically want to hug  him.  He makes a point in telling the story as it was …. at it is now ….. and though it is not intended as any sort of eulogy, it inevitably is.   

It is also  obvious  that the very last thing in Will’s mind  is to make him feel or look good , but after seeing his calm presence on the screen for the past 50+ minutes it is impossible not to acknowledge what an exceptional human being he is.  And a great brother too.  

 

Will Young: Losing My Twin Rupert was first screened in May 2022, and is available globally 

(Via VPN) https://www.channel4.com/programmes/will-young-losing-my-twin-rupert

 

 

ROGER WALKER-DACK Creator, Editor-in-Chief Miami Beach, FL / Provincetown, MA IG @QUEERGURU  Member of G.A.L.E.C.A. (Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association)  and NLGJA The Association of LGBT Journalists.  and The Online Film Critics Society. Ex Contributing Editor The Gay Uk & Contributor Edge Media Former CEO and Menswear Designer of  Roger Dack Ltd in the UK