Staying active keeps my joint pains at bay
Benidorm actress Sherrie Hewson on the legacy of ballet, her perfect posture and why her lazy dog isn’t keeping her fit
BY CHRISTINE FIELDHOUSE FOR as long as she can remember, actor Sherrie Hewson has been plagued by aches and pains.
But the former Loose Women panellist has refused to let her problem knees, hips, shoulders and wrists stop her living a busy and active life.
Instead, she has soldiered on with TV and theatre commitments and has tried to exercise it away.
Looking back, Sherrie – who played Maureen Webster in Coronation Street and is the bossy Joyce Temple-Savage in TV and theatre comedy Benidorm – believes her early days as a performer are to blame.
She said: “I did ballet and tap from the age of four.
“I was a ballet dancer until I was 18. If you talk to any ballet dancer, they all have problems with their knees, their hips, their ankles.
“When I was a child, my father would sit me in front of an electric fire and put boiling hot flannels on my shins to ease the pains in my leg. We used to call them growing pains.”
She joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at 18 and gave up dance to concentrate on classical drama.
Sherrie said: “Even then, I had problems with my left knee. Every now and then it will just go. I feel it happening. Fortunately I have another knee so I don’t fall over.”
Ballet training has given Sherrie good posture, as did horse riding, which she has now given up.
But her joint niggles flare up when she doesn’t take care of herself and lets her posture slip.
Referring to her character in
Meditation brings up things from the past that I don’t want to remember
Benidorm, which is touring theatres, she said: “As Joyce Temple-Savage, I wear six-inch heels and that doesn’t bother me. “My mother was a model and wore high heels until the day she died at 89. “She always told me that wearing flat boots would do my back in.
“I have a very active life. If I didn’t work, my aches and pains would be worse because I would be lazy. I think laziness is the biggest killer of all time.”
Sherrie, who lives near Chorley, Lancashire, loves to walk and often did 15-mile hikes with her old dog, a Weimaraner called Caius. Her new pet, a grey chihuahua called Teddy, isn’t as keen. She said: “He prefers to be carried.”
Sherrie likes to swim and also unwinds during spa days at Ribby Hall Village near Preston with her 34-year-old daughter, Keeley, mum to Oliver, 12, and Molly, eight. Sherrie avoids treatments in favour of the sauna and steam rooms.
She said: “I love a hot bath. A session in the sauna and steam rooms eases my aches and calms me down when I’m stressed.”
When she was in Sardinia filming 100 Years Younger in 21 Days for ITV last year, Bill Roache, who plays Ken Barlow in Corrie, and Record astrologer Russell Grant tried to introduce her to meditation.
She said: “When I’m doing things like that, it brings up things from the past I don’t want to remember.
“It backfires and makes me more stressed. I have to find another way to make me happy and that comes from my daughter Keeley and her children.
“They are the reason why I wake up every morning.”
Although she was diagnosed with an underactive thyroid 14 years ago and now takes thyroxine daily, and suffered hair loss during a divorce from husband Ken Boyd, Sherrie is reluctant to take medication unless it’s totally necessary.
“I don’t like to put chemicals into my body,” she said. “When I can, I choose the natural solution.”
Having researched her aches and pains, she learned New Zealand green-lipped mussels contain an oil that helps ageing joints, but she didn’t know how to source it.
She came across Regenovex Actiflex capsules, which contain the oil as well as vitamin C for collagen, vitamin D for muscle function and hyaluronic acid, which helps ligaments.
Sherrie, 68, said: “After a few months, I realised I was much less moany and groany.
“Life is so much easier and more fun when you’re not in pain.”
Regenovex Actiflex capsules and gel are available at Boots.