After losing 2st and taking up yoga, Loose Women star Linda Robson appeared to have it all. But behind closed doors, she was heading towards a breakdown.
Discussing her lowest point, Linda said, ‘I was drinking, so they were locking me in and I was shouting, “Someone let me out!”’
Linda would even beg strangers to buy her alcohol, admitting, ‘I’d say, “Excuse me, I’ve lost my key and can’t get out. Could you get me a little bottle of vodka from round the corner?”’
But fast-forward a year and Linda is in a better place, thanks to the help of her loving family and friends…
Nanny Linda
Earlier this year, Linda, who turns 62 this week, confessed that her biggest worry while she was unwell was ‘letting her family down’.
But her grandchildren seem to be helping Linda get back to her old self. Posting pictures of her and her granddaughters on Instagram, Linda wrote, ‘Had a lovely indoor picnic and movie with Lila and Betsy this half term as weather wasn’t great.’
A source told our sister publication Woman's Own, ‘Linda feels amazing at the moment. She’s telling everyone she finally feels like she’s in a better place. Spending time with Lila and Betsy reminds Linda how lucky she is. It’s about time, after everything she’s been through.’
The girls are particularly special to Linda, who’s mum to Lauren, Roberta and Louis, as she admits the realisation she couldn’t have any more children hit her hard.
She said, ‘I had a miscarriage many years ago, so I would’ve had four kids now. Once I started going through the menopause, I got a bit depressed because I thought, “That’s it, I won’t be able to have any more kids”. But I’ve got my granddaughters, they’re the loves of my life now.’
So nowadays, family comes first for Linda. She says, ‘When my children were growing up, I was away a lot filming. But if anything comes up where I have to go away now, I turn it down.’
Back to work
Loose Women clearly has a special place in Linda’s heart. She returned as a guest in January, a year after her last appearance, where the panel revealed how worried they’d got about Linda’s OCD during a girls’ trip to Ibiza.
Panellist Nadia Sawalha, 55, confessed, ‘We were all really worried, we watched you losing weight. It was like a dimmer switch dimming down, we were losing you.’
Linda admitted that she’d lost too much weight after cutting out sugar and alcohol, saying she ended up ‘looking 90 years old’.
And while she appeared to be happier than ever, it was clear to those behind closed doors that she was struggling.
Linda explained, ‘I was having a meltdown. I used to take a tablet to help me sleep every night. When I came off the wine, I upped the tablet and then I got concerned about taking the tablet, so I went to see somebody about it and they gave me another tablet, but I had a really bad reaction to it.’
She added, ‘I got really bad anxiety, really bad depression, and my OCD kicked into overdrive. Then I started drinking again, I was drinking anything just to black out because I didn’t want to be facing the day.’
Now, Linda’s back as a regular on Loose Women and she credits the team for helping her to recover.
‘I want to thank my family, my friends and my Loose Women team for all their patience and love, I couldn’t have done it without them,’ she said, before adding, ‘It’s great to be back.’
Spending time with friends
Linda is also leaning on her friends for ongoing support. She recently met up with fellow Loose Women panellist Jane Moore and wrote alongside a happy selfie, ‘Had a catch-up yesterday with my lovely friend.’
The actress also went for lunch with Birds of a Feather co-star Lesley Joseph, again sharing a smiling picture of them together on social media, and captioning it, ‘Had a lovely lunch with my oldest friend Lesley.’
She even enjoyed a wild night out with her ITV pals at stripper show Magic Mike Live in London. Joking the next day, she said,
‘Had a magical time at Magic Mike Live, they made 300 women very happy and I can’t wait to go back again… and again and again!’
