Loose Women star Denise Welch has recounted the terrifying health battle that led her to collapse and forced her to pull out of a show twenty years ago.

The 66-year-old TV personality bravely opened up about the horrifying ordeal during Friday’s episode of the ITV daytime programme.

Her admission came as the panellists were discussing Simone Biles’ Olympic victory in the 2024 competition, following her withdrawal from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics due to mental health reasons.

And as the group talked about the importance of doing things on your own terms, Denise decided to share her own story.

She began by saying: ‘We’ve got some inspirational stories this week like Simone Biles, like Adam Peaty, who have overcome some mental health issues to come back and it’s fantastic.

‘I think that sometimes a mindset is whether you become a survivor or a victim, but also some people should never feel bad about the fact that they can’t come back.’

Recounting her health scare, she continued: ‘Many years ago, throughout my 35 years of having mental illness, I’ve only ever once pulled out of a show.

‘I had to pull out of a pantomime in 2004 because I had a breakdown and I collapsed, I hadn’t eaten for three weeks. And I wanted to return to the show and I couldn’t.’

The Loose Women panellist has long been open about her more than 30-year battle with depression.

Back in April, Denise took to social media to hit back at a troll who criticised her for continually talking about it.

The viewer tweeted: ‘STOP THE FRONT PAGE, DENISE IS TALKING ABOUT HER MENTAL HEALTH AND DEPRESSION! This has NEVER happened before. #LooseWomen #Denise.’ 

Replying to the tweet, Denise wrote: ‘Thanks Harry. I’ve actually been talking about it for 35 yrs when no one in the public eye had ever done so. And I will continue until I pop my clogs so stay tuned!!

‘If you’d ever been hospitalised after a depressive episode you might talk about it too!!’ She completed the tweet with four thumbs up emojis.

What triggered the troll’s tweet was Denise being asked if she would take offence at being called emotional work.

She sympathised with bosses saying it would be hard to run a business if these were the kinds of thing people took offence to.

However, Denise then made a caveat for those with illnesses, saying: ‘I think certainly with mental health issues it’s very different, and I remember once…

‘Thirty five years of struggling with clinical depression, on-and-off which everybody knows because I’ve talked about it for that long, which is a very serious mental illness.

‘There’s only one job I’ve ever had to pull out of [because of clinical depression], and it was a pantomime in Stockport, 2004.’

She explained that she was criticised when she collapsed from the illness but her colleague with a broken arm was praised.

Denise used this to highlight the difference in the way mental and physical illnesses are treated by the general public.

The star is set to make her return to the pantomime stage this Christmastime as Captain Hook in Peter Pan at Theatre Royal in Nottingham.

She joins a star-studded cast that includes TV fashionista Gok Wan, comedian Paul Chuckle and comedy ventriloquist Steve Hewlett. 

It comes just after the TV star revealed she felt ‘ridiculous’ after scammers stole £2,000 from her bank after catching her out with a cruel trick.

Denise opened up on Good Morning Britain on Monday about being scammed over the phone and urged ITV viewers not to make the same mistake.

The TV star revealed she lost thousands when she picked up the phone convinced she was talking to the Barclays fraud squad – but it was actually an impersonator.

Speaking to hosts Ranvir Singh and Ed Balls, Denise revealed she was busy at the time when the phone call came in and she saw the caller ID said Barclays and believed it was legit and wanted to get the issue sorted quickly.

She recalled: ‘It was a few years ago, it was pre-pandemic, and I was rehearsing a show – Calendar Girls: The Musical. We weren’t supposed to look at our phones or take personal phone calls. We all have a sneaky look and there was Barclays call.

‘I went out, took the phone call and they said, it’s the fraud squad. They said there was some fraudulent activity going on with your card, and we want to put a stop to it.

‘I had absolutely zero doubt that I was talking to the fraud department from my bank because it had come up under the headline of Barclays that I had put into my phone.’

Revealing how she was taken in by the man, she admitted it wasn’t until the fifth call when she made the huge mistake.

She explained: ‘I was talking to this chap called Michael. I remember him, he was obviously very personable. And I went through, over a series of about four phone calls, all of the information you are duly expected to give.

‘It was my full name, my date of birth, my address and postcode and my mother’s maiden name – again, didn’t hesitate because it said Barclays.

‘So over about four phone calls, Michael had become my best friend and he said it was taking a long time to do this because this was a fraud that was potentially going to be bigger than they thought.

‘This is where anybody watching this will be shouting, well, that’s on you. How stupid of you. They then said, on about the fifth phone call, we’re going to have to ask for your four digit pin.

‘Now, even I know that you don’t give your pin away, but because I was talking to the fraud department at Barclays, I did. And the next day, I mentioned this to my husband, who went absolutely spare’.

She revealed: ‘They had cloned my credit card and by the time we had discovered it they had taken over £2k from my account.

‘If I had been sat at home and this was happening it may have not happened but because I was at work I just wanted it sorting. I felt ridiculous about it.’

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Source: Tampa Bay Times