Holly Willoughby has admitted she feels like a ‘bad parent’ for not letting her nine-year-old son Harry play the violent game Fortnite.
The mum-of-three revealed that she worries her eldest child feels ‘left out’ because all of his friends already play the game, which is for ages 12 and above.
Speaking to mum Kendal Parmar, whose 15-year-old became obsessed with the shooting game, Holly admitted that she suspects Harry has already played the game at his friends' houses.
She said during a segment on This Morning on Wednesday: 'I know in his classroom all the kids are talking about Fortnite. I know he's probably played it when he's gone over to their houses, he hasn't played it in my house as yet.
'I feel bad because they're all talking about it, I feel like I'm keeping him away from something. There was a party the other day when they were all doing the Fortnite sundown dance and Harry didn't know how to do it, he was left out.
'I felt like I was being a bad parent for not letting him play.’
During a game of Fortnite, players’ battle to survive on an island against strangers online – fighting and killing each other until one only person is left, hunting for weapons such as assault rifles along the way.
Kendal appeared on the ITV show after revealing that her son’s addiction to Fortnite is tearing his life apart, admitting he has been unable to attend school for a year as his relationships with his classmates has crumbled.
She said she has tried ‘taking the computer out of his room and even putting the internet router in a safe’, in a bid to help curb his addiction.
‘I have taken the computer out of his room and put it in a friend's house for months. But I suppose like any addict, he's ingenious about finding ways,’ Kendal added.
'The number one thing it affects is all the relationships, he hasn't been to school for a year and all his friends from school he's not part of that anymore. All his friends are online.'
The teenager was even admitted to hospital for eight weeks because his ability to function was so impaired.
Kendal’s son is now the first child diagnosed with a gaming addiction by the NHS after she battled for three years to get the NHS to recognise internet gaming as a treatable condition.
