Are You Really Ok?

by Roman Kemp

Capital DJ Roman Kemp has achieved much success but he hasn’t had an easy ride. He has

battled depression since the age of 15, once contemplated suicide, and has bravely fought to smash the stigma still surrounding medication and mental health.



The lifelong Arsenal supporter grafted his way to Capital’s highly coveted Breakfast slot – and pulled in record-beating listeners with his cheeky sense of humour. Who else could convince Ed Sheeran to tattoo Roman’s leg on air, drive around London playing cab-roulette with James Corden, get Craig David to freestyle rap, or rope Lewis Capaldi into a life-drawing class?



Yet during the pandemic Roman’s life changed when his best friend Joe – the producer who’d nurtured his career every step of the way – tragically took his own life.



ARE YOU REALLY OK? is all about sharing. Roman opens up on the experiences that have shaped him, revealing some hilarious and surprising anecdotes from his youth. And he unflinchingly tackles the taboo of suicide in the hope that by talking about his own struggles and sharing advice, he can help others.

Genres: Nonfiction, Autobiography, Memoir, Mental Health, Biography, Self Help

265 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 27, 2022

Reviews

[Louise Batchelor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recommend this book to absolutely everybody, especially if you're going through a hard time. It really is eye opening and when I've had a couple of friends in position that tried to end their life it put myself in their position and see what they must have been going through. I both cried and laughed through this (and gritted my teeth through the Arsenal parts, well i am a Man Utd fan 🤣🤣) thank you Roman for opening my eyes and making me see anxiety can hit everybody differently. Mine might less in comparison to most, but its still important to work on it

[Deity World · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow what a read for a 29 year old he’s certainly gone through a lot. I suffer from depression myself so totally understand where he comes from

[Takealookinsideabook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Im a sobbing mess but oh how I adored this book!!

I'm a big fan of Romans, ever since he won my heart on Im a Celeb back in 2019! He's such a genuine, kind and funny guy and this book makes those qualities shine through even more!

This is an emotional yet immersive read that gripped me right from the start. I've laughed, I've cried and my heartstrring have been tugged at several times throughout this beautiful book.

Cant reccomend this enough 🧡

[Kirsty Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such honesty in every page!
Highlights the real problems caused by the stigma tied to poor mental health.
Very easy language and such a good read.

[Books By Your Bedside · Rating 5 out of 5]

Roman is so open and honest in this, even about stuff you wouldn’t necessarily talk to anyone about, and now he’s told thousands of people. It’s very refreshing to read.

I really appreciate his honest in every area but particularly about his upbringing. He’s aware that he’s had a privileged life that not everyone has and I really like how he’s been honest about the positives and negatives of that fact, without sounding spoilt or patronising. It’s a nice balance.

It had e substance than I was expecting. I thought it was “just” going to be a book about mental health with anecdotes and helpful advice. And that would have been perfectly fine. But it’s so much more. He’s taken us through his life, his childhood, adolescence and adulthood, his family life, his career, his ups and downs, and the things that have built up to crate this picture of mental health. It’s not a self-help book as such. He doesn’t pretend he’s a know-it-all expert or guru, he’s just telling us his experience.

Whilst I’ve seen Roman in programmes such as DNA Journey and the documentary he did on mental health and suicide, I don’t listen to Capital Radio and so that side of his story was interesting to me. And I know of his parents and enjoyed their music but they were necessarily a family I followed (figuratively of course), but it was a real eye opener learning about them as people rather than just their names.

You will find yourself entertained and educated and you’ll be laughing and crying. It is a real rollercoaster of emotions - which, at the end of the day, is what makes us human. Ideally we want to live in a world where there is no suicide, there is no mental health crises; but that won’t happen, and it’s people like Roman who are using their position to help make things a little easier in the meantime.

I have had my depressive episodes over the years, some very recently. I wasn’t wanting to kill myself per se, but my medical condition was getting so bad, it got to the stage where I would have been happy to die in my sleep. It even got to the stage where I had to reach out to the Samaritans for help to talk me down from the ledge. So it’s really important that we have things like this book, from people who, from afar, seem to have it all, as it reminds us we’re all in the same storm when it comes to mental health, we just have to find the best boat to sail it.

I would recommend this book to anyone, whether you yourself are dealing with a mental health crisis, or a friend or loved one is, or if you just want some advice in case the situation arises. It’s not preachy, he doesn’t pretend to know everything, but you can tell he wants to use his friend’s death to make sure no-one has to go through the same thing.

I lost a childhood friend by suicide in 2019. I won’t go into too much detail as I don’t believe it’s right or fair on his family, but the shock and pain that reverberated from that, even to this day, was unlike any loss or grief I’ve been through. I completely understand where Roman is coming from when he talks about the loss and how “suicide grief” can impact you.

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Roman Kemp (2022) ARE YOU REALLY OK?
London. Mirror Books

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 out of 5 stars

The sleeve reads, "Capital DJ Roman Kemp has achieved much success but he hasn’t had an easy ride. He’s battled depression since the age of 15, once contemplated suicide, and has bravely fought to smash the stigma still surrounding medication and mental health. The lifelong Arsenal supporter grafted his way to Capital’s highly coveted Breakfast slot - and pulled in record-beating listeners with his cheeky sense of humour. Who else could convince Ed Sheeran to tattoo Roman’s leg on air, drive around London playing cab-roulette with James Corden, get Craig David to freestyle rap, or rope Lewis Capaldi into a life-drawing class? Then, in 2019, Roman won over yet more fans coming third in I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, with his uncanny impressions of everyone from Ant and Dec to his mate Harry Styles. Here, for the first time, Roman’s ready to reveal the things that weren't captured on camera, and how his time in the jungle changed his whole outlook on life. During the pandemic Roman’s life changed when his best friend - the producer who’d nurtured his career every step of the way - tragically took his own life. Amidst the shock, loss and confusion, Roman bravely made a moving BBC3 documentary about the alarming rates of suicide amongst young males. He’s well aware he too, could have been a statistic. In this page-turning book - peppered with hilarious and surprising anecdotes from his youth - Roman also unflinchingly tackles the taboo of suicide, in the hope that by talking about his own struggles and sharing advice, he can help others. Roman shares all the experiences that have shaped him, and why love, marriage and having his own family one day are so important to his future dreams."
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Painful. Difficult. Confronting. Hopeful. Optimistic. Promising. Empowering. This is all things in spades and a must-read for everyone. Books like these, potential lifesavers. That's what counts.
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#RomanKemp #AreYouReallyOK #Books #Read #Reads #Reading #Review #Reviews #BookReview #BookReviews #GoodReads

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really great read. I watched Roman and started to become aware of him after I'm a Celebrity. I'm not a big Capital radio fan so wasn't aware of him as such but knew who he was because of his Dad mainly, but it's clear he doesn't really like people to associate him as for who his parents are and actually he turned down an offer to go in I'm a Celeb 3 years previous because he felt he hadn't made himself enough of a character and a place in the world and people would just know him as Martin Kemp's son, which is very admirable.

Watching Roman's documentary about his best friend committing suicide was really eye opening. The grief he went through, and even his own mental health was played out brilliantly and now the work he does to support Mental Health Charities, everything was there for us to see and I really found his program heart warming.

The book covers lots of the same story about losing his best friend but also about his life and the main things that he has in his life, listed in chapters. Family, possessions, holidays, things that are important to him in life. How he got his career and the jobs he did in the past, he is very open and honest and the book was very well written and a great read.

[Chelsea Duncan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a combination of self help and autobiography. Overall I liked Roman's gentle, humble, friendly and honest approach. He doesn't sugar coat and he is pretty explicit about his struggles. I only wish he was a little bolder about his opinions - at some points it feels like he is apologising for himself or preempting people saying negative things, which I don't think he needs to do. At times it felt like he was searching for things to say, for example coming up with a fantasy football league and going into the credentials of various players. But his story was reasonably interesting and of course, as an educational tool the book achieved its purpose in warning and teaching about suicide and the importance of mental health. There were quite a few errors in the writing, I'm not sure if this is an editing or a writing issue?
The book is worth a read but probably wasn't as entertaining as I would have imagined, although of course Roman is only 29 where most autobiography writers will be older with more stories under their belts. This is a great book for a younger, more contemporary audience, addressing issues they'd be more in tune with. Probably best for precocious teenagers or young adults.

[Robert Nixon · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book really doesn't know what it wants to be. The cover and particularly the title leads oneself to believe that you're going to get at the very least something substantial on mental health. The reality is the contents (or at least the first two thirds of it, I'll get to why I didn't finish it) consist of some basic discussion of the topic but I actually felt the effectiveness of even this was undermined by the way in which the author switches to discussion of random things that have happened in his life, many of which being subjectively amazing experiences many could only dream of.

Roman is clearly living a highly privileged life and I don't begrudge him that. That being said it doesn't put him in a good position to write a book on the subject of mental health for the masses. Possibly the best part of the book I read was that in which he shares his experiences of his friend and colleague dying by suicide. This is real and an experience that cuts across class divides. That being so folk in Roman's position are very much better equipped to cope with loss since access to mental health support in the UK and much of the world depends, to a large extent, on how wealthy you are. Roman simply can't speak to the experiences that the majority of those struggling with mental health face and as such the book perpetuates the narrative that if we all just got our mates talking a bit more or went for an extra walk everything would be alright.

The worst sections of the book could be considered insulting to those of us who've suffered with mental ill health. In the section on money, Roman readily admits he could come across as a "privileged arsehole". He then goes on to prove himself right by stating in the section on the royal family "the Royals endure all of the same human hardships the rest of us do". I've never met a Royal (Rowan has) and I don't have any reason to doubt that it is his honest opinion that they're good people, but to make the aforementioned statement, it's just objectively not true. This is the point at which I gave up on the book because he is clearly not thinking in much depth about how this might land with ordinary folk. Even in the case of loss which Roman discusses in this section it does not have as great an impact on those in positions of wealth and power such as the royals for the simple reason of them having functionally unlimited funds with which to procure themselves the best psychological support there is.

If you want to read a better book about mental health "warts and all" then I'd recommend the Scottish comedian Limmy's autobiography. Half the price but much more than double as good as this.

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, I know this is going to seem rather churlish, but this book is just terrible. It is a very important subject, but the majority of it it just lists of things the author likes with the flimsy justification that everything in life can affect your mental health, so these are the things that shaped the author as a person.

What I am not going to do is criticise the character of the writer. He genuinely comes across as a well-rounded, intelligent person who has had to deal with a horrendous shock in his life. Being the son of a very famous actor, it would be very easy to believe that he surfs off the back of this, but I genuinely believe that this is not the case. The first 20 pages and the last 40 are exactly what I was expecting when I bought the book, however, the middle 210 are basically just a series of very boring lists. It took me days to read that section, whereas the final 40, which are properly about mental health, I read briefly in one sitting because they were fascinating.

I only bought this book because I had gone to a coffee shop with nothing to read, so nipped into my local Tesco, and liked the sound of it from the write up on the back. It was not until I started reading that I realised who the author was.

The message in this book is genuinely important, however the narrative doesn’t ever expand upon what is written on the cover. The final page restates this message, but nothing in the narrative has built up to this point, so it’s just becomes reiteration. There is probably an excellent book out there about mental health, however this is not it.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd wanted to read this since it's publishing so was chuffed to see my local library shelving it! Roman Kemp opens up about his life in a really heartfelt and honest memoir, sharing insight into his life experiences, through childhood and his education, his friendships, their close family unit, his mental health and passion for finding a meaningful career. The chapters are great; so raw and funny and others so moving as he draws attention to the challenges of grief after suicide. It's a brave and inspiring story, highlighting the great friendship he built with Joe but the tragedy of losing somebody so special to him. Mostly, I loved how normal Roman seems and the powerful bond he shares with his friends and family. I hope he's proud of the story he's produced and the awareness of mental health that he is raising👏🏻👏🏻

[Claire Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been aware of Roman Kemp from his time on I'm A Celebrity, but apart from that I knew nothing about him. I saw this book advertised in a newspaper and the title spoke to me. It's well written and very relaxed. He shares his own journey with mental health very openly, and I definitely shed a tear or too along the way. It's not overly heavy though, apart from a few pages. I'm glad I came across it and I'll definitely be looking up the documentary he made on the same issue. It's a quick read, I got through it in a few hours, and I'd recommend it to anyone whether you struggle with mental health or not.

[Danielle Alford · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is completely relatable from the very first page. A must read for anyone who has directly experienced suicide - Roman gets it, and explained exactly how I have felt for the past 13 years. Roman is open and honest about his own struggles, very honest and I think that is because he knows by being honest it will help people. This is a book that will draw you in, and get you thinking about your mental health and others at the same time.

I feel as if a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Thank you Roman.

[Rachael Hardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where to start, love the layout of it, breaking it down into little sections. Even though it did make me cry a couple of times, it also made me smile and laugh too, I liked how open and honest he was with it and writes just like he speaks. Very interesting and relatable at times. Liked how it was like a autobiography and self-help or a how to help your friends kinda book too.
Would definitely recommend.

[Mark Steed · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is book is part discussion of mental health issues and part autobiography (recognising that Roman was 29 when he wrote this).
The book is at its best when Roman is being open about the mental health issues that he has faced, particularly about how he has coped with chemical depression.
The book also seeks to open up a public discussion about suicide - in light of Roman coping with the tragic loss of one friends to death by suicide.

[Abbie Braithwaite · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible book, it’s nice to hear someone “famous” cope with mental health and suicide. It’s really opened my eyes too! I’ve got a whole new outlook on Roman I always admired him but now reading this book has made me admire him more! Thank you Roman for being so open and honest with us! Definitely recommend anyone to read this book!

[Shannonnreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have never been so obsessed with an autobiography in my life. Everything Roman expresses in this book comes from the heart. It is all so honest and authentic, which is very hard to find in autobiography’s these days. A truly special insight in to his life, losing someone so close to him and the trauma that comes along with all of that. Hats off to you Roman x

[Alan Coll-Peacock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Massive credit to Roman for writing this, incredibly open and detailed, he highlights his mental health struggles and how he's coped with depression from a young age, and about the loss of his best friend to suicide which clearly had a big part to play in him writing the book. A thoroughly interesting read, thought-provoking and helpful too. Definitely worth taking the time to read.

[KimmyB Fitness · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was actually a very refreshing read. It was nice to see a young male be completely open and honest about his experience of mental health and depression. With suicide being the biggest killer amongst young men in the uk, this book was well overdue.

He tells his story of the highs and lows of life, and the reality of living with depression. This book is an absolute must for everybody.

[Charlie likes to read · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great idea to speak up about mental ill health. I fair enjoyed this to read.
I loved how it was self help with parts of his own life in there. I’m sure his friend Joe will be proud.

1 little downside… I felt some areas of writing were poor a lot Of repetition on events, things said etc. if you read this you will see what I mean

[Lloyd · Rating 2 out of 5]

Strange book. Starts and finishes well, offering interesting and helpful insights into Kemp’s own experiences of poor mental health and some how tos, and I think that I like Kemp as a character but the main body of it, a sort of biography which meandered away from what was ostensibly the main subject of the book, didn’t work for me.

[Annalisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so impressed by Romans incredibly honest and open discussions on mental health and about his own struggles, which is why I chose to read his book and I’m really pleased I did. This is a helpful and important read for anyone who is struggling themselves or is worried someone they know/ love is suffering and how they can best help.

[Miss S inglis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It's written as how you would speak it to a friend. It's straight to the point and funny, sensitive and engaging. If Roman does another book (and I hope he does) then I would consider getting that too. It's well worth the read. I just couldn't put it down until I reached the end of a chapter.

[Hayden Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good just it was more or a life story than a book about being okay although there was plenty of good things in there I really enjoyed it and it made me feel less alone and it was good in that sense sad in many ways, would recommend if you like Roman kemp though.

[Niamh A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honesty through and through. Very much an easy read in terms of layout - felt a slight sense of repetition toward the ending of the book and powerful content throughout. A joy to get to know the person behind the voice on the radio.

[Samantha Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. As someone who has lost a relative to suicide, I found this book incredibly moving. I rarely cry at books, but Roman had me crying by page 10.

This is a really insightful read, and it's so raw. I loved every topic covered and felt the honesty when reading his words.

Definitely recommend!

[Charlotte Redhead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a meaningful read, thoroughly enjoyed this book

[Angela Budd · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very honest account of grief and depression. Hopefully will help others #asktwice Well done Roman 😊

[Justine Skeet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very important book which is written in a really lovely way.

[Char Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very much enjoyed reading this book! Honest , open and refreshing. It has made me think of my own mental health needs and that of my friends . Everyone should read it !