Denise: Life is tweet with no Twitter
Loose Women panellist tells Georgia Humphries how she’s happier after escaping social media abuse
DENISE Welch is never hesitant about speaking candidly, which makes her one of the more interesting panellists on daytime TV show Loose Women.
Until recently, she would share her opinions on Twitter, too.
But the social media platform can be toxic and Denise, 62, has been the target of vile abuse in the past.
Last month, she found she had been logged out of Twitter – now there is no way she is logging back on.
Denise, best known for playing Natalie Horrocks in Coronation Street, said: “After 10 days, I thought, ‘I feel so much better without it’.
“I’ve got friends who say, ‘Oh, I don’t have Twitter on my phone, I only have it on my computer. I’ve got an addictive personality, I’d be back on it again’.
“There are some really informed people on Twitter that I love to follow who I miss. But I feel a much calmer person as a result of not being part of it.”
Denise had public clashes with Piers Morgan when she tweeted her views on the pandemic.
The mother of two – who first experienced post-natal depression following the birth of her eldest son Matty (lead singer in the band The 1975) and has since battled episodes of severe depression – is out poken about the impact of the nationwide lockdowns on people’s health.
An ambassador for the charity Mind, she says people have been reaching out to her a lot during the pandemic.
She added: “Some of the emails I’ve read about how people’s mental health has suffered have been heartbreaking.
“I’ve been talking to doctors and one of the hidden epidemics is the increase in liver disease and stuff with people drinking. (There’s been) a massive increase in clinical depression, breakdowns and attempted suicide. That’s why I was very vocal, at the very beginning, about the other side of Covid.
“Yes, we’ve had to protect people from the virus but it’s the other virus – the mental health side of things – and the fact that cancers haven’t been treated. All I was trying to do was give a voice to other things not necessarily directly Covid-related.”
Denise has been working hard throughout the last year.
Firstly, there was her book, The Unwelcome Visitor, which was published last March.
In January, she joined the cast of Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks and she has a documentary series launching on factual TV channel Crime+Investigation, called Survivors With Denise Welch.
She said: “My own mental health advocacy and sobriety (she gave up alcohol in 2012) has made me more empathetic and a very good listener.”
Denise was married to actor Tim Healy, the father of her kids, from 1988 to 2012. She then wed her PR manager Lincoln Townley in 2013.
She hasn’t had an episode of depression since 2019 and while she did consider if hosting such an intense series could be a harmful trigger for her, she was able to approach it rationally.
Going home to Lincoln, who she describes as a fellow “aficionado of the true crime genre”, and talking through days of filming with him was helpful. And she thinks her mental health struggles helped her with the new crime series.
Instead of taking notes into interviews, she allowed it to flow as a natural conversation. She said: “That meant sometimes I imparted something about my life that wasn’t me trying to go, ‘Oh, and this is also about me’.
“Many years ago, I experienced coercive control and emotional abuse, and although that isn’t me trying to say, ‘Mine was as bad as yours’ or anything like that, it meant I could show empathy.”
Survivors With Denise Welch starts on Crime+Investigation on Monday, April 19. Episodes will be available for 30 days on catch up.