Justin Welby: The archbishop who battled depression due to ‘messy’ early life

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy In his role as Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby has presided over royal weddings and funerals – but he has also spoken of a “messy” early life and subsequent battle with depression. On that occasion, he said: “All of us know – I know especially at the moment, I’m not going to go into that one, I’m not going to go into debates in Parliament – but we know at the moment what it is to be trolled, to be threatened.” Faith has acted as a “safety net” for the church leader, who has spoken of his personal experiences with depression which had led him to experience feelings of “self-hatred, self-contempt, real, vicious sense of dislike of oneself”. In a statement at the time Mr Welby said: “I know that I find who I am in Jesus Christ, not in genetics, and my identity in him never changes.” Gavin Welby died “as a result of the alcohol and smoking” in 1977, when the archbishop was 21, while Lady Williams died aged 93 in July 2023. She had also battled alcoholism and Mr Welby has previously said that “as a result of my parents’ addictions my early life was messy”.