The power of positive thinking? Well, sitting in A& E, in agony, in a wheelchair, and being asked for a selfie was a bit of a career highlight
Leah Macrae knew she had made it when people in agony were lining up to ask her for a selfie.
The River City and Gary: Tank Commander star was in A&E with what turned out to be a torn Achilles tendon when she found herself becoming a distraction from her fellow patients’ pain.
“They were there asking for a selfie, some of them with broken bones,” said the 35-year-old Glaswegian, recalling the night she suffered the serious injury while performing live on stage.
Leah was halfway through a performance of her one-woman show My Big Fat Fabulous Diary in Giffnock, East Renfrewshire, when she heard “the most terrible noise”.
She bravely finished the show in a wheelchair, before going to hospital where the walking wounded wielded their camera phones.
Two years later, the ebullient actor can look back and laugh as she prepares to take the show back out on the road again.
Her injury forced bosses at River City to rewrite scenes, but such is her resilience that she continued to work even while in plaster and wearing an orthopaedic boot.
Yet she admits to wondering if she brought it on herself.
She said: “Part of what I talked about in the show is what it feels like when folk make fun of you because of your weight.
“And minutes before I snapped my tendon, I actually said the line, ‘Being called fat is my Achilles...” Literally in the next section of the show, I snapped my tendon.
“I did actually ask the orthopaedics ‘Did this happen because I’m fat?’. But it happened to David Haye, the boxer. He snapped his Achilles at the same time. It was interesting watching the difference in recovery, with him being an athlete.”
Leah’s effervescence matches that of her Tank Commander character
– Actress Leah Macrae
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It’s about telling peoplep it’s OKO to be good at something. If people think you’re big-headed, it’s their problem
Julie. Indeed, the series creator, writer and star Greg Mchugh was inspired to write the characters based loosely on her real-life persona.
It’s no surprise that she has bounced back. Leah has worked hard to maintain a positive outlook despite the setbacks and has practised meditation. She is intent on harnessing the power of positive thinking.
She has been influenced by Rhonda Byrne’s best-selling self-help book The Secret, and said: “It made me realise that if you try to be positive, it does work. You can’t do it all the time, especially being Scottish, but it helps you focus on who or what is important and what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. It helps you be a better person, a kinder person.”
Yet she knows developing a vein of default optimism and self-belief doesn’t come easily to many. Leah said: “There’s a lot of stuff in there about not being able to take a compliment. So often we don’t just take it and say thank you.
“It’s a bit cooler now to be in the entertainment industry but there was a time when it wasn’t cool. Some young actors are still uneasy with saying they can sing, for example.
“You say to them ‘can you sing?’ and they say ‘emmmm’. If I was to ask my mum if she could touch type, she wouldn’t say ‘emmmm’. She’d say ‘yes’.
“When it’s a performance thing it’s different for some reason. It’s about telling people it’s okay to be good at something. And if someone thinks you’re big headed, then that’s their problem.”
Leah has spoken in the past about being on the end of hurtful comments on social media about her weight.
She said: “I believe that if people