Denise Welch reveals she had two nervous breakdowns while on Coronation Street

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DENISE Welch has bravely shared her story of having suffered two nervous breakdowns while starring on Coronation Street.

The Loose Women panellist, 61, shared her story and revealed her clinical depression started after the birth of her first child, Matthew.

Denise Welch, 62, revealed she had clinical depression while working on Coronation Street

Her depression got so bad she had two nervous breakdowns while playing Natalie Horrocks on Corrie.

Things used to get so bad for her, she would make herself sick to try and feel better.

Denise revealed: “My depression was so bad I had two nervous breakdowns while doing Coronation Street

“I was trying to work through them to the point that I was getting up at 5am for filming.

Things got so bad she had two nervous breakdowns while on Corrie
She played Natalie Horrocks on the ITV soap from 1997 – 2000
Her battle with clinical depression began after giving birth to her first child

“I was crawling on my hands and knees to the toilet, making myself vomit, because by making myself be sick I was trying for the 10 seconds of being sick to try and take away the pain that was in my head.”

She added: “Which is why I understand the horror of self-harming. I didn’t ever go to that extreme, thank goodness, but it gave me an indication of why people are so desperate to find a release to go down that road.”

Denise starred on Corrie for three years until 2000 and said even though she was public with her struggles she was not getting the right support from people behind the scenes.

She said: “To go in and say I’ve got depression, not from my true friends in there, there was like a, ‘But we have all got depression Den. We are all depressed about something.’

The mum-of-two said people behind the scenes were not very supportinve
Denise said she could understand why people self-harmed to try and suppress mental health problems

“But if you go in and say you have got a kidney complaint or I’ve got this or I’ve got diabetes, people understand.”

The mum-of-two who battled binge eating and alcoholism, also got very addicted to cocaine in her late 30s.

She told The Wagon podcast: “Someone said, ‘If you have this it will make you feel better.’

“And I did and it did for 40 minutes. It made me feel normal. It didn’t make me feel happy and amazing.

Denise and husband Tim Healy

“That was the very slippery slope for me. Then I was chasing it and it ruined my life. It was horrendous.”

Denise’s revelations came after a tough week for the Loose Women panellists.

Furious Loose Women viewers slammed the stars as “hypocrites” for returning to filming.

The show returned from hiatus with Stacey Solomon, Ruth Langsford, Jane Moore and Janet Street Porter after production was halted due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Denise turned to alcohol, cocaine and binge eating to try cope with her mental health issues

 

 

However, their reunion was hit by criticism from viewers as they questioned why the show was back on.

There has been some adjustments to the format so that the panellists can maintain a safe distance from each other.

As the show returned, just three women were in the studio and one panellist – today Janet Street Porter – joined from home via video link.

The show will now be live on Mondays and Wednesdays with pre-recorded shows the rest of the week – to limit the footfall at the studios during the coronavirus pandemic.