Denise Welch reveals her life becomes 'colourless' whenever depression bouts hit... as star admits she poses in bikinis to 'embarrass' her children
Denise Welch has opened up about her long-running battle with depression, revealing it often leaves her world 'colourless' when a new bout sets in.
ADVERTISEMENT
During an appearance on ITV's This Morning on Thursday, the 60-year-old TV personality spoke about how she first experienced the crippling condition after giving birth to her rocker son Matt Healy, 29.
She said: 'I've been battling depression for 30 years. It came from my post natal depression when I gave birth to Mattie. It was severe.
Scroll down for video
'I would like everyone to experience clinical depression for just 15 minutes to see how it feels like. There's nothing like it!'
RELATED ARTICLES
- Ant and Dec REUNITED! Britain's Got Talent hosts are pictured back at work together for the first time in almost a year as they arrive at the London Palladium
- Priyanka Chopra, 36, and husband Nick Jonas, 26, arrive at their hotel in Beverly Hills following their recent Caribbean honeymoon
- Myleene Klass admits she would drink before 11am amid 'humiliating' Graham Quinn divorce... as 'spiralling finances' and anxiety led to alcohol dependence
- Mel Gibson, 63, and girlfriend Rosalind Ross, 28, look smitten as they enjoy a romantic dinner in Los Angeles
She continued: 'My depression can come on at any time. A year ago in January, I was on holiday, but the colour started to go from my world. I got a metallic taste in my mouth, my ability to love goes out the window, and my life becomes colourless.'
Speaking of her decision to remain outspoken on the issue, the onetime Celebrity Big Brother champ added: 'I was a very lone voice 30 years ago. People said don't talk about it.
'I want to say to anyone watching, there's so many women who experience it worse than me and go on to make complete recovery... I was self medicating quite publicly.'
Denise recently returned from a sun-soaked trip to Barbados, where she posed in a series of swimsuits as she showed off her two-stone weight loss.
And the Loose Women star, who is also the mother of 18-year-old Louis Healy, admitted that she enjoys embarrassing her offspring with her scantily-clad snaps.
The TV star said: 'I've got more body confidence now! I looked better 20 years ago but I didn't have much body confidence at the time. I wear bikinis to partly embarrass my children, but also for myself!'
She recently took to social media to celebrate that she had kept off the two she lost with 'flexi-fasting,' after becoming an brand ambassador for Lighter Life.
Denise is a dress size 12 and 5ft 4 inches in height and credits Lighter Life with helping her to maintain her previous two-stone weight loss.
She has been 'flexi-fasting' and she spoke to new! magazine about what this entails.
Denise said: 'A fasting day is when you just eat four LighterLife meals. It works for me because I don't count calories and every meal has all your vitamins and minerals. I feel better physically and mentally than I did in my twenties and thirties.'
ADVERTISEMENT
The star told the publication: 'Change your relationship with food - that's how you'll stop yo-yo dieting. I did it through cognitive behavioural therapy, because when I gave up alcohol, I was on a rocky road of replacing it with food.'
The actress and her husband Lincoln Townley, 45, managed to keep the sparks alive since they tied the knot in a romantic ceremony in 2013.
Denise was first previously married to David Easter from 1985 to 1988, before she tied the knot with Tim Healy in 1988. Their union ended in divorce in 2012.
In the early days of December, the actress triumphed that she had managed to keep the two-stone she lost off for five years and seven months.
Accompanied with a boomerang of Denise in a bikini, she wrote: 'Don’t wait til after Christmas!! I lost 2st in 2mths with @lighterlife and have kept it off for 5 yrs 7mths!!!'
