Linda Robson: ‘I drank, because I couldn’t face the day’
Linda Robson made her muchanticipated return to Loose Women last month, having taken time off following a much-publicised ‘meltdown’, which she later confessed saw her family ‘lock’ her in her own home until they could get help – brought on by a mix of crippling obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety. And the former Birds of A Feather actress will surely have helped
many viewers at home going through similar struggles, thanks to her down-to-earth honesty, talking about her own hellish journey. She later called it ‘one of the scariest things I’ve ever had to do’.
Linda, 61, bravely went on to the show to detail her battle with OCD, anxiety and depression, and a six-week stint in a treatment facility. During the emotionally charged episode, she explained that her OCD reached severe levels after she’d taken medication for sleep. ‘I went to see somebody about it and they gave me a tablet. But I had a really bad reaction to it. I had a proper meltdown, I got really bad anxiety, really bad depression and my OCD kicked into overdrive.’ After six weeks in a facility, Linda said she came out on more medication, which made her so hyper, she turned to alcohol. ‘I started drinking again because I couldn’t face the day,’ she admitted. Following her brave admission, a teary Linda turned to panellists Stacey, Kaye, Nadia and Jane and added, ‘I hope it helps people’. Of this, Linda, you can be very sure.