Denise Welch The Loose Women star is shooting from the lip about her battle with drink and depression

After a battle with drink and depression, Denise Welch is on a mission to help others. She tells Susanna Galton how she overcame her demons

Denise Welch is drinking instant coffee in her kitchen, an electric fan wafting air in her face. “These menopausal hot flushes,” she cries. “My husband wants the heating on but I’m sitting here sweating. This fan follows me around the house.”

Frank, funny, and frequently dropping the F word, there are no airs and graces with Denise. Her Shaker-style cream kitchen opening on to a leafy decking area befits someone who’s been a household name for three decades. But it’s also relaxed and homely. Husband Lincoln’s colourful art adorns the walls, pans are piled on the draining board and clothes hang drying in the corner.

“I’m not remotely houseproud,” she shrugs, cheerfully.

At 62, the former Coronation Street actress’s trademark candour has long made her a hit on daytime chat show Loose Women. And now she’s revealing even more of herself in her book that details her battles with the clinical depression – triggered postnatally in 1989 – she dubs her unwelcome visitor.

“It wasn’t easy to write it and reading it aloud for the audiobook was very emotional,” she admits. “It meant revisiting places I’d have preferred not to. At times I felt very sorry for that person I was. I’ve done some good things in my life, and I’ve been known for some bad things, but if I can help other people or change how depression is perceived with this book, then I’ll die happy.”

It was in September 2019 that Denise – an outspoken advocate for mental health – shared online a series of brutally raw videos of herself in the middle of a depressive episode. Tearfully, she explained how even showering and being in the company of her loved ones was a real struggle and how life felt drained of colour.

“As I share all my celebratory news with my social media gang, I felt I had a duty of care to share when it’s horrible, too. I just picked up my phone and did it,” she says. “I had no idea of the overwhelming impact it would make. When I got well again I realised it had 1.5 million views. I was blindsided.

“Hundreds of people reached out and said, ‘Thank you. This is me.’ People look at a famous person and think, ‘What have they got to feel depressed about?’ Or they always ask a depressed person, ‘What do you think has brought this on?’ You want to shout, ‘Nothing has brought this on – this is who I am.’ It’s a clinical condition, a chemical brain imbalance. It’s the most crippling, isolating and potentially terminal illness that you have to persuade people that you have, because it’s invisible. We need to change this perception of depression.”

Today, though, Denise is the picture of health. Her two sons, The 1975 vocalist Matty, 31, and actor Louis, 19, from her first marriage to Tim Healy, isolated together at Matty’s country recording studio, while the actress spent lockdown at home in Wilmslow, Cheshire, with her artist hubby Lincoln Townley, 47.

“It was just us two for 10 weeks, cocooned in a little bubble. Lincoln and I joke that our lockdown life was no different to normal as we don’t really like going out any more. We’re happy staying in with each other.”

The couple married in 2013 – but there’s no sign of the dreaded sevenyear itch. They both featured with their celebrity friends in hit Youtube comedy drama series Dun Breedin during lockdown, filmed on their iphones, and Denise is full of praise for her younger man.

“I am so lucky that Lincoln loves me and supports me, despite him having no previous experience of depression. I am grateful to have found such a great love in my fifties. I never expected to.

“Of course we row sometimes. Lincoln doesn’t like being told he’s ever wrong, go figure, and he never manages to get his underpants into the wash basket. But he is my anchor. And I am his.”

Denise’s battles with drink over the years are well-documented. It was Lincoln, filming her while drunk and arguing furiously and banging doors, who ultimately spurred her to quit. They have both celebrated eight years sober.

“Alcohol ruined my life for 15 years. My biggest regret is not giving it up sooner,”

“Alcohol ruined my life for 15 years. I regret not giving it up sooner”