Sheridan Smith
Sheridan Smith, 36, one of our most successful actresses and singers, has just embarked on a UK concert tour. Single, she lives with her four dogs in a farmhouse in the home Counties.
GRIEF CAN MAKE YOU STRONGER
I’ve had such good luck in my career, one great experience after another. There was Gavin & Stacey, Legally Blonde, Mrs Biggs, the Terence Rattigan play, Flare Path, and Cilla. But I hardly had time to catch my breath. as a result, I burnt myself out a bit.
and then my dad was diagnosed with cancer and that turned out to be the tipping point. I’d been run off my feet, professionally speaking, and now I was dealing with terrible grief, but having to do so in the public eye. I suffered a welldocumented meltdown which, among other things, meant pulling out of some performances of Funny Girl.
But, when I first stepped onto the set of my Tv special last November and saw my name in lights, it was a turning point after what had been a rollercoaster couple of years. It seemed like the start of a new chapter. I’d come through the fire and rain, and survived.
From that point, it was onwards and upwards. Initial embarrassment gave way to the realisation that everyone was rooting for me, and absolutely the best thing I could do was to enjoy it. It was a defining moment. Now I’m only interested in moving forward positively.
One of my favourite mantras is: This Too Shall Pass. It’s what I try to explain to the young girls who write to me about the dark times they’re going through.
They can’t see any way through their problems. But I tell them nothing stays the same for ever. Yes, there’ll be low days. But, in the end, they will pass.
My dad was my world. everything I did, I did to make him proud. So losing him in 2016 was the worst thing that had ever happened to me. But I’ve come out the other side.
What you learn is that if you can survive something like that — and thousands of people have to go through what I went through — you emerge from it stronger and better able to face the future. Grief is a strange thing. It can hit you when you’re least expecting it.
But I feel I now have it in perspective. I can honestly say I’m happy.