Sheridan needs our compassion not carping
Whether playing a woman dying of cancer in the C-Word, or wearing a red wig and false teeth as Cilla Black, she is a towering talent. Sheridan Smith (below) could turn her hand to anything, conquer any part. Or so we thought until recently.
For her very public meltdown while playing Fanny Brice in the West end show Funny Girl shows us the one role in which she is not comfortable . . . being Sheridan Smith.
three times this week she pulled out of the production, and now we’re told the 34-year-old star is taking a two-to-four-week break. this follows behaviour that had become ever more erratic.
theatre-goers claimed she slurred her words and looked drunk on stage, while after the Bafta awards she partied until 7am and spent the next night on twitter attacking her detractors.
She tweeted that she was ‘not strong enough’, and friends have said she’s stressed because her father has recently been diagnosed with cancer.
Whatever the cause, it’s evident this extraordinary woman is in the middle of a tragic meltdown.
As one of her friends wrote: ‘Sheridan is brilliant but so fragile. She is on a massive self-destruct downward spiral and everyone is just worried about her.’
how very, very sad. Which is why the trolls gleefully attacking her on the internet and theatre-goers asking for their money back should be ashamed of themselves. Sheridan needs our compassion, not our carping.
those who dismiss her as a highlystrung TOM HIDDLESTON fuels rumours he will be the next Bond after being spotted meeting director Sam Mendes in London. Let’s hope it’s not true and that Daniel Craig will reign again with his sexy pout. I don’t even want to think about chickenlips Hiddleston’s scrawny body in a pair of blue budgie smugglers. actress who should be grateful for her talent don’t seem to understand she could be suffering from depression, an affliction that knows no boundaries.
And while she endures her collapse in the harsh glare of public scrutiny, millions of others — young and old — suffer from depression in silence.
the fact is that women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with it as men, and around 20 per cent of adults will experience depression at some point in their lives.
Yet such is the stigma surrounding mental illness that many feel unable to admit to the tears, the inconsolable despair they face each morning. Many of us have witnessed friends or family members struggle through bleak days caused by this illness.
Let’s pray that Sheridan gets the right help, comes back stronger and even more brilliant — and that we’re queuing round the block for her next performance.