Gone to pot! Linda Robson warned: Don’t take drugs
The Birds Of A Feather star courted controversy when she went to America to take drugs
We’re used to celebrities doing crazy things on reality TV shows, but Linda Robson has raised the bar – by taking drugs on TV.
Linda was one of the five celebs to take part in Gone To Pot: American Road Trip – travelling to California with a film crew to explore whether marijuana should be legalised.
She joined ex- EastEnders star Pam St Clement, actor Christopher Biggins, darts player Bobby George and ex-footballer John Fashanu on a psychedelic bus tour of the US state to ingest some of the locally grown produce.
Linda loved her time on the show, but not everyone wanted her to take part, due to the controversial subject matter.
‘My agent was really worried,’ she says. ‘They said to me, “Please don’t smoke a joint on television. You’re a face from daytime telly. You’ll never work again!”’ But the Loose Woman was undeterred, and tried cannabis in various different forms on her magical mystery tour. Yet the actress, 59, had strong reasons for wanting to try the drug. The mum-of-three was interested in exploring the medicinal benefits of cannabis. ‘Cannabis oil can help ease pain, which I’m certain a lot of people my age don’t know about,’ she adds. ‘My stepdad had really bad arthritis. He had trouble sleeping and getting through the day, so we started to give him a joint to help. It was nice to see him free of pain for a while. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to do the show, to find out more.’
And though she’s still undecided as to whether it should be legalised in the UK, Linda did find that there were some surprising benefits to getting high.
‘I got some CBD oil (made from cannabis) to help with the menopause. After I tried it, I didn’t seem to have so many hot flushes,’ she admits.
‘My agent said, “Please don’t smoke a joint on TV. You’ll never work again!”’