Ruby Wax

Frazzled

After arriving in Britain from the United States in 1977 and training as an actress, Ruby Wax began her career with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She went on to a hugely successful career with BBC television as an interviewer and comedian, and has written and edited numerous scripts for TV and film including Absolutely Fabulous.

Ruby then turned her attention to the study of psychotherapy and neuroscience, graduating from Oxford University in 2013 with a Master’s degree in Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy. She is also an Alumna and Honorary Senior Fellow of Regent’s University London with an MA in Psychotherapy and Counselling, as well as holding an Honorary Doctorate from the School of Psychology at The University of East London and University of Staffordshire. She has also been awarded a City Lit Lifetime Fellowship and recently held the position of Chancellor of Southampton University.

Ruby is the author of six best-selling books Sane New World, A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled, How to Be Human, A Mindfulness Guide for Survival, And Now For The Good News and I’m Not As Well As I Thought I Was, which combine neuroscience, mindfulness and comedy. The hardback copy of A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled sold over 100,000 copies and is distributed in more than twenty countries. Her one-woman shows Sane New World, Frazzled, How to Be Human and I’m Not As Well As I Thought I Was have toured both internationally and in London’s West End.

Her Frazzled Café charity was launched in the UK in 2017 in partnership with Marks and Spencer’s. Frazzled Café meetings provide a talk-in place where people who are feeling frazzled can meet fortnightly to talk and share their personal stories in a safe, anonymous and non-judgmental environment, a place where it’s OK to not be OK.

She presented her TED Talk at TEDGlobal 2012 What’s So Funny about Mental Illness? She speaks at Parliament and Downing Street to raise money for neuroscience research, is an ambassador for MIND and SANE mental health charities, and works tirelessly to break the stigma.

Ruby also speaks widely to businesses and corporate leaders on how to communicate on a deep and effective level with clients and colleagues, and on how to enjoy good mental health. Clients have included BAE, Orange, The Welsh Assembly, KPMG, Skype, eBay, London Business School, Women in Retail, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Barclays, HSBC, Microsoft, Roffey Park, The Home Office, MI5, Johnson and Johnson Pharmaceuticals, Bayer Pharmaceuticals, GMT Communication Partners, Facebook, The Marketing Society, Senior Women in Policing and Google.

In 2015 Ruby was awarded an OBE for Services to Mental Health.

Most recently she stepped into an entirely different arena by joining the cast of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here. It gave audiences a fresh look at her grit, quick humour and ability to stay grounded even in the chaos of the jungle, while introducing her to a new generation of viewers who connected with her honesty in one of TV’s toughest environments.