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Loose Women star and Birds of a Feather actress Linda Robson on hitting rock bottom - and her Loose Women pals who helped her through the heartbreaking lows she endured along the way
Linda Robson has made no secret of the turbulent few years she’s had, which, at her lowest, saw her suffer a breakdown in 2018 amid an alcohol addiction. But in her new memoir, Truth BeTold:TalesFromA BaggyMouth, Linda, 65, details how life spiralled out of control. The actress – who is mum to Lauren, 40, Louis, 32, and Bobbie, 28 – explained that she would down wine in secret and eat oranges to cover up the smell. After her LooseWomenco-hosts told her they thought she needed help, Linda checked into a clinic for six weeks. But things escalated, and her family had to lock her in the house to stop her buying booze. This eventually led to her checking into a psychiatric hospital – where she was placed on suicide watch. As she writes, ‘I’d hit rock bottom and had no idea how I was going to crawl my way back up again.’ But, after a subsequent stint in The Priory rehab centre in 2019, Linda did exactly that and is now sober and back to where she was ‘before this nightmare began’. Here, Linda, who is also single for the first time in 33 years after splitting from husband Mark Dunford, opens up to best about her overwhelming depression, the support of the Loose ladies – and why she’s now firmly focused on the future…
Hi Linda. You really opened up in your book about a tough few years…
I’ve been really honest because I had really bad depression and anxiety – I was on suicide watch for quite a long time. Those were the worst two years of my life. If you had said that that would have happened to me, I would have said, ‘No, I’m the strong one. I’ve been able to look after my family all my life.’ And then it happened to me. It was all down to me being on the wrong medication and it sent me a bit doolally, so I was really struggling.
Were you worried about telling everyone about your darkest days?
Not really. I got really emotional because I did the audiobook and speaking about the depression, all the different things I did and what I put my family through, I couldn’t stop crying. They kept saying, ‘sit down and have a cup of tea and then go back in again.’ It brought it all back.
What’s the response been like since you revealed the lows you’d experienced?
It’s been amazing. Loads of people have been in touch to say they’ve been through something similar. Denise Welch has also been very open about her depression –we’re very honest at Loose Women.
