Dean McCullough has opened up on his experiences of being homeless, saying he used drink and drugs as he felt "lost and lonely".

The radio presenter, who recently competed in I'm A Celebrity, told Good Morning Britain that he had been homeless as a child and in his teens and early 20s, but had not recognised it as homelessness until he began working with Centrepoint.

McCullough said in early adulthood he had been living in a volatile environment and relied on drink and drugs, but had thought he was "having a good time, being a bit wild, a bit free" until he looked back on it later.

McCullough, who is working with homelessness charity Centrepoint, said: "People think they know what a homeless person looks like. They think that it's someone on the street with a bottle of liquor in a brown bag asking for money.

"But from my own personal experience, we were homeless when I was younger. My mum was forced out of the home and I went with her. We shared a bedroom, we were on the sofa. At the time I was going to school, I was getting dressed up every day, I was in bed well and we were surprisingly quite happy and we made the most of that situation."

Read more:

But McCullough shared that he had been through a more difficult experience after moving from Belfast to London to pursue a radio career.

He said: "At the time I wouldn't have called that homelessness. But later in life when I started working with Centrepoint... They didn't know about my homeless story and to be honest I didn't really understand the experience that I'd had until we started working together.

"When I was living in London between performing contracts I didn't have a fixed address. For quite a lot of my time living in London I was moving from house to house, and some of those houses I was living in were quite volatile.

"Mates of mine were using drugs and alcohol and I got caught up in that world as well. Sometimes I'd go out on a Thursday and stay out all weekend going from party to party, friend's house to friend's house just so I wouldn't be living in that volatile environment."

He continued: "That kept happening and I didn't realise. I thought I was having a good time, being a bit wild, a bit free. But actually, I didn't have a fixed address, I didn't have keys, I was just waiting for my friends to come home so I would be able to have something to eat. I didn't realise that was homelessness.

"At the time I felt lost and very lonely. I used drink and drugs unfortunately to feel some sort of a connection. I just thought I was being fun and that's what you did in your late teens, early 20s. But actually what it's done for me later on in life is that it's meant my home is really important to me. Making a home but also offering somewhere to stay if friends of mine find themselves in that situation."

McCullough also shared that when he had finally got a home of his own, he "kissed every single piece of wall and every door handle".

McCullough is a young person's prevention ambassador for Centrepoint and appeared on Good Morning Britain with The Big Issue founder Lord Bird, after the Government announced almost £1 billion worth of funding to tackle and prevent homelessness.

Homelessness, which includes people living in temporary accommodation, is currently at record levels, according to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Speaking about the funding, McCullough added: "I think that the money is great, and I hope it's spent well, but I would really like the stigma of homelessness to be talked about.

"I think that we need to open the conversation and allow young people to speak to people that they trust, whether that be a teacher or another family member outside their immediate family home, and share the worries that they may have."

He added: "I think that people watching today might just think, 'okay, well, they're going to spend this money on outreach and get more people out onto the streets, working with these homeless folk', but I think that by that stage, we've already hit a crisis.

"I think that we should be trying to prevent this far, far, far sooner, and I think that starts with the conversations that we're having today."