Corrie Samia onthe hellof anxiety
How actress overcomes panic attack nightmare
in many different ways. “There are a million reasons for my anxiety,” she says. “It can be anything from a health anxiety obsession, to my self-confidence, my confidence in my work, how I am with my friends. I care a lot what people think and sometimes if I have a conversation with someone it will stay with me for weeks that I might have offended them, or I might not have said hello in the right way. “I overthink everything. You need constant reassurance.” That reassurance comes in the form of Dancing on Ice star Sylvain, whom she met in 2013 when they were partners on the show, and married three years later. They live in Cheshire with Samia’s eight-year-old daughter Freya from her first marriage, and the couple’s son Yves, two. “Sylvain is not anxious at all, he is so chilled and so calm” Samia says. “He bought me a book recently called How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, which has been good.
“He is also brilliant at knowing what to do to help. If I am having a panic attack he will hold me really tight and reassure me in a calm voice that everything is going to be OK.”
For years Samia avoided confiding in her doctor, feeling there was a huge taboo around mental health issues. “I had gone to the doctor’s with something else and while I was there I felt myself having a panic attack,” she says. “She checked my heart rate and it was over 100, so she did an ECG and my heart was fine, so then she said, ‘We need to sort out your anxiety.’”
The doctor gave Samia coping strategies such as meditation and breathing exercises, and she has found yoga and exercise help too. Perhaps most importantly, it made her realise how common anxiety is.
“The reason I am dealing better with it now is because I spoke to my doctor about it before Christmas,” she says. “Before that I had not been to the doctor with it for years, which is crazy.
“I didn’t want the doctor to think I was mad, or wasting their time. But there are things the doctors can do to help you help yourself.”
As a mum Samia is determined her own children won’t suffer from the same anxiety. And she hopes by speaking openly it will help others to realise it is OK to talk and find the support they need.
“Already my daughter jokes about how much of a worrier I am, and I don’t want to put it on her,” she says. “I don’t want her to be like I was when I was a kid. Luckily, touch wood, she is not. She’s quite chilled.”
The star wants to show that nobody’s life is the image of perfection it may seem on the outside, especially on social media. She says: “Everyone is in the same boat.
“I had seen an interview by Ryan Reynolds and I thought if anxiety can affect somebody like him… on the surface his life looks like everything is perfect.”
It was the inspiration Samia needed to talk about it. She adds: “I didn’t make a conscious decision to go public. I just started writing and thought it might just help a couple of people.
“It has surprised me the number of people who said thank you, or said I was brave. I don’t think I am brave at all.
“I just wanted other people who might be going through it too to know that I have anxious thoughts and it’s OK.”
Sylvain is brilliant. He holds me very tight and tells me in a calm voice it’s OK