Spencer Matthews will climb Mount Everest in bid to find body of brother Michael

PREPARING to climb the world’s highest mountain is an arduous process for anyone who dares consider it.

But for Spencer Matthews, taking on Mount Everest was a gut-wrenching process as he was on a journey to find the final resting place of his younger brother, Michael.

Michael, who was an experienced mountaineer, died aged 22 while descending Everest in 1999 and his body was never recovered.

And Spencer, 34, has teamed up with Disney+ to film himself trying to find Michael – something he says took months of therapy for him to prepare for.

In an exclusive interview, Spencer says: “It was important for me to get my head around the fact I might come face-to-face with my brother’s frozen body.

“I spoke to a therapist before going there because I knew it was going to be a gut-wrenching and emotional journey.

“And I knew living at altitude for over a month would be tough too.”
Following Michael’s death, Spencer and his family set up the Michael Matthews foundation to keep his name live.

Since former Made In Chelsea star Spencer, his brother James, 47, and his wife Pippa Middleton, 39, have campaigned tirelessly in Michael’s memory.

Back in 2014 Pippa and James cycled 3,000 miles across the US for the charity and two years later conquered the summit of the Matterhorn to raise money for the foundation.

And in 2018 Pippa and James even gave their first born son Michael as a middle name in tribute.

Michael, who worked as a derivatives trader, was the 162nd person to lose their life on Everest.

It is believed he became lost in heavy snow on the mountain’s Death Zone, which is over 8,000 meters high, as he climbed down as part of a guided group.

Spencer revealed the show is called Finding Michael and would air in March next year.

He adds: “I spent five weeks there and they followed my search for Michael’s body 23 years after he went missing.

“I can’t say much about what happened on that trip, but I did it to keep my brother’s legacy alive.

“I’m looking forward to people seeing it. For me as a TV personality, it certainly feels nice to be doing heavier, personal projects – as much as I enjoyed the reality stuff at the time, that feels like a different lifetime for me now.”

This is not the only battle Spencer has been forced to face over the last few months.

The television star, who became a household name after starring in Channel 4 reality show Made In Chelsea, has struggled with alcoholism.

Spencer, who has three children, Theodore, four, Gigi, two, and six-month-old Otto, with his model wife Vogue Williams, went sober in 2017 before he started drinking again last year.

However the devoted dad says he is now completely sober again and reveals for the first time he turned to Alcoholics Anonymous for help at his lowest ebb.

Spencer says: “I used to drink excessively - pretty much daily with the odd exception.

“I was a foreign exchange broker, and it was perfectly normal to drink four, five beers at lunch and then take clients out after work and stumble in the early hours – and then be back at your desk at 6am.

“I got into a really toxic cycle to the point where I didn’t enjoy my job. I was always on the edge, my body was almost in shock.

“I wasn’t functioning at my full capacity for a while, it was becoming detrimental to my health because I was gaining an enormous amount of weight, I wasn’t able to hold down a meaningful relationship because I was out all the time.

“I did the odd 'Dry January' here and there, and because I knew I would drink again it didn’t really work. I’d stop for a bit and then get totalled as a reward for having that break.

“Once I had decided I wanted to be completely sober, I went to an AA meeting. It was really eye opening; it was difficult. There were a lot of people in there who I felt had significantly worse problems than me and their stories were difficult to listen to.

“I only went to another couple of meetings, but I had made a decision to be sober.”

Spencer adds: “It feels like an easy decision now I look back – and I knew it was what I wanted.

“I’m totally sober now. If I felt like I wanted to drink again, I know that’s the wrong move and I would definitely chat to a therapist.”

A guiding light in Spencer’s life is clearly his wife, Vogue, 37, who he met on Channel 4 skiing competition The Jump in 2017.

Before settling down Spencer was famed for his party-boy lifestyle and dated a string of reality television stars – including Geordie Shore’s Vicky Pattison and his Made In Chelsea co-stars Caggie Dunlop and Lucy Watson.

In Vogue however, Spencer found the one and the pair married in a lavish ceremony at his family’s 3000 acre Scottish estate, Affric Lodge, in June 2018.

And he admits he has finally found his “happy place” at home in Chelsea, west London, with Vogue and their children.

“I think Vogue is the best mother going,” Spencer says, smiling. “She is incredibly tentative with the kids.

“She loves them just unfathomably – you can see it in her eyes.

“If she could do absolutely everything with all three of them all the time, she would. She’s completely devoted to them, and I think she’s amazing.

“We have been married for nearly five years.

“We go running every morning together, just the two of us, through the hills – taking an hour, hour and a half, to ourselves.

“We have the benefit of being best friends as well as being married.

“I would rather spend time with her than anyone else, which bodes well for our marriage. I tell her I love her countless times a day, we are an affectionate couple.”

Time is clearly precious for Spencer and Vogue, thanks to their hectic work schedules.

Rather than rely on his family’s vast multi-million pound wealth, which includes the cash that comes from their elite Caribbean hotel, Eden Rock, in St Barths, Spencer has always worked hard for a living.

And along with launching a hugely successful drinks company CleanCo, which specialises in non-alcoholic gin, rum and tequila Alternatives, Spencer has launched a brand new podcast.

Running alongside his popular podcast series with his wife, called Spencer & Vogue, Spencer has now launched Big Fish – which sees him grilling successful big name stars to find out just how they got to where they are.

The project, Spencer admits, is one he is hugely passionate about.
Spencer says: “Big Fish, dives into what success means to different people.

“I found that this is almost directly related to their background. What I learned was that almost nobody becomes successful without failing at some point.

“In episode one, Ant Middleton is really vulnerable at one stage during the interview – I’ve certainly never heard him express fear or even a desire to quit like that – it’s a great opportunity to listen and that made me know this was a special project.

“DJ Fat Tony is another one – I’ve never heard stories like his.

“I’ve met all sorts of people with addictions who have remarkable stories of recovery – but his is second to none. It’s amazing to hear someone come from where he was to where he is now – it should give anyone struggling with alcoholism hope.”

Spencer’s Big Fish podcast is out every Wednesday on Global Player and other good podcast apps.