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He’s now a happily married man, with a successful career, but it’s still hard to cope the trauma from his early life, and he admits he has attempted to take his own life. “Yes, I had a bottle or two of vodka and I was all ready to go through with it,” he tells me. Suddenly, something came on the TV about JK Rowling and for some reason it gave him hope.
"I was so alone and broke, I saw no hope. But thanks to her, I stopped it. Later I wrote to tell her about it, and she replied to me.”
The care home Chris had been sent to was run by a pedophile. At first, Chris treated it as a huge playground and admits his behaviour became worse. But that bad behavior almost certainly saved him from worse – the abusers left the little tough guy alone, instead choosing more vulnerable kids to prey on.
Chris dedicates his time to helping young people and teaches acting to disadvantaged kids as well as adults. He’s also a volunteer at the Big House Theatre. His own acting career has seen him win awards for the short film, To Cath A Butterfly, and he has a new film, Scrapper, coming out.
He’s also a successful artist and his works have been sold for thousands of pounds at charity events. Chris is a big supporter of the LGBTQ community and donates to Linda Riley, the queen of diversity events.
“Coming from Halifax in West Yorkshire, all you heard was ‘beware of the poofs in London’ “ he says. “Trust me, there are plenty up there too. The people who really looked after me and never once took advantage of me were gay men. To be honest, most of my mates are gay and I am more comfortable with them.”
Having met many showbiz personalities, there’s something about Chris that screams “star” to me, but it’s clear his prime motivation is to help others. But stardom is also beckoning too – and if he can, he’ll use that to help other too.
''The move between heart wrenching and heart warming is extraordinary
Evocative and incredibly moving, this tale of redemption takes me back to my own youth living in Halifax. I found the book deeply moving, extremely well written. The kind of book that makes you smile, laugh and cry I would heartily recommend this anyone who seeks an understanding of the impacts of life in our broken care system. I'm very much hoping to see the author on his book tour to shake him by the hand and congratulate him on an excellent book, with equal amounts of mirth, horror, humour, heartbreak and happiness. An outstanding read''
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