Vicky: “Ercan’s used to me in my gravy-stained Harry Potter pyjamas!”
As UK charity chiefs warn that a month-long lockdown in winter will take a heavy toll on people’s mental health, reality star Vicky Pattison says we all need to be kind to ourselves
As England entered its second national lockdown last week, people were quick to speak out about the toll on our emotional and physical wellbeing. TV star Fearne Cotton hit the headlines after she revealed that she’d been taking medication again to cope, and Paul Farmer, chief executive of mental health charity Mind, said it could be “the greatest test of our mental health this year”.
Now Vicky Pattison, who has openly spoken to Closer about coping with depression in the past, says we need to think about self-care more than ever.
The former Geordie Shore star, 32, says, “However we’ve chosen to get through lockdown, we all need to be respectful of each other. That means zero judgement. It’s a case of each to their own and you should never compare your situation with others’. Social media can be a really intense, competitive place – with people in the first lockdown making banana breads, learning Latin, cooking from scratch, and learning to play the cello! It got me down and I put a number of posts up in the end just saying, ‘This is a global pandemic, it’s not a productivity contest!’ I think we need to remember that as this situation rages on. You just need to do what’s right for you. Even if that’s just a couple of hours on the sofa watching a boxset with a bottle of wine. If it’s a morning yoga class and a green juice, then that’s amazing, too.”
And Vicky – who has been dating ex- TOWIE star Ercan Ramadan for nearly two years – says she’s not worried about how the lockdown will affect her relationship. She laughs, “I think he’s seen me in makeup about four times this year! Ercan’s used
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to me in my gravy-stained Harry Potter pyjamas, with a sheet mask on, demanding we watch whatever boxset I’m currently obsessed with. The first lockdown definitely sped things up for us and made it more intense. We’re probably closer than a couple who have been together for less than two years should be, but I’m really happy with him. I’m just pleased to see that the more I learn about him, the more I love him. I’m a very lucky bug.” ● Vicky’s QUIZ Christmas range is out this month and available at Quizclothing.co.uk