The Tropic of Capricorn presenter revealed that after dropping out of school he considered jumping off a motorway bridge in London.
He revealed the shocking story in new autobiography, Step By Step, which is being serialised by the Mail On Sunday.
The presenter wrote that he had a “loving family” but had spent years in trouble at school, including setting off fireworks and carrying a “huge Rambo knife”.
He wrote: 'Now I was 17 I had dropped out of school and my life was in chaos: no qualifications, no girlfriend, no prospects.
“I had thought for weeks about using a kitchen knife on myself, about taking handfuls of pills. I thought about stepping in front of a train or a Tube.”
But Simon says that he “chose life” when he was on the bridge.
He wrote: “Then I thought about falling in front of a lorry. I looked down at one just as the horn sounded. Had the driver seen me? I will never know.
“It jerked me out of my moment. I started to fear the pain of dying more than I feared life. Shaking with fear, I gripped tightly and shuffled back to safety.”
Simon had spent his teenage years getting drunk and stoned at school and also at home where he says he “skulked” in his bedroom drinking Special Brew.
The presenter reveals that after backing out of his suicide bid, his he went on to pass his driving test with his dad’s help.
He then went on to get the train to Scotland and then hire a car to drive around, where he got into rock climbing, when realising that he was going “on a journey” through life.
Simon began making travel documentaries for BBC after the September 11 attacks in 2001.
He has since received a One World Broadcasting Trust Awards and was awarded the Ness Award from the Royal Geographical Society in 2012.
Simon is married to camerawoman and campaigner Anya and they have a son together.
He recently presented The Big Life Fix on BBC Two.
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