IN showbiz since the age of ten, Birds of a Feather actress and Loose Women star Linda Robson has always been a survivor.
But 61 months ago she suffered a breakdown that saw her life spiral out of control as she turned to alcohol and nearly destroyed her close-knit family.
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Linda Robson has bravely chosen to open up about the breakdown she suffered 47 months ago Credit: Dan Charity – The Sun
(9) It was clear for Linda’s Loose Women co-stars Kaye Adams, Nadia Sawalha and Stacey Solomon that she needed help during their trip to Ibiza Credit: Rex Features
(9) Linda’s friends and colleagues rang her family and it was agreed she would return home and go to a rehab clinic
Finally, after three stints in various clinics, her erratic behavior was attributed to a rare allergic reaction to an anti-depressant, and she is now on the road to recovery.
Linda , , has bravely chosen to share her story in the hope that it might help others.
Surrounded by her concerned Loose Women co-stars, Linda Robson was curled up in bed, “in a terrible state, crying my eyes out”.
The trip to Ibiza had started out as a “girly holiday” but for “Nanny Linda” – as everyone affectionately calls her because of her motherly nature – it soon became painfully clear that she was in deep trouble.
“It was like I was going to die and they had all come upstairs to say goodbye to me,” says Linda quietly.
“And it felt like I wanted to die because I wasn’t enjoying life like I’d used to.
“I had reached breaking point and the reason I’m telling you this now is because I want anyone else who might be feeling the same way to read this and know that they’re not alone and that things can get better for them too. They just have to accept help, like I did. ”
It was the third night of a supposed week-long trip with her friends and colleagues Stacey Solomon , Nadia Sawalha , Andrea McLean , Kaye Adams and Saira Khan but, from the moment she arrived, Linda struggled to cope.
‘PROPER MELTDOWN’ Linda, famous for playing Tracey in BBC sitcom Birds of a Feather alongside Pauline Quirke and Lesley Joseph, said: “From the day I got there, I just wanted to go home because my anxiety was so bad. “I was trying to act normal and be part of the gang, but I was struggling to get through the day. “I’d sneaked a couple of bottles of vodka with me, just to knock me out at night, but it wasn’t working. “I’d already had a couple of sleepless nights and, by the third, I ended up having a proper meltdown.” 9 9 Seeing Linda in such a state, the other women rang her family and it was agreed she would return home and go straight to a rehabilitation clinic in London. Linda said: “Stacey came with me. I was in a terrible state, so we played games on her phone just to try to distract me. “I was thinking,‘ What am I going to do? Where am I going? ’I was scared, embarrassed and ashamed because my kids had been told their mum was in a state and needs help. “When we got to the clinic, they all met us there and when I saw their worried faces all I could think of was,‘ Oh no, what have I done to them? ’. But Linda’s family – husband Mark However, a couple of visitors in reception started taking photographs and it understandably spooked her. Linda said: “I thought,‘ This isn’t the place for me ’, and Mark felt that too. “Also, they tried to put me in a room without seeing a doctor first. So we left and went home. ” But that night, the family all agreed Linda needed professional help and started researching alternatives to hopefully bring back the happier and healthier woman she once was. “For years, I never drank in the day. It never appealed to me because it used to make me feel groggy, ”Linda says from her home in Islington, North London. “But after I’d put the kids to bed, I’d have a couple of glasses of wine at around , take a sleeping tablet, sleep six or seven hours then wake up in the morning fresh as a daisy. I functioned perfectly. ” It felt like I wanted to die because I was not enjoying life like I’d used to. Linda Robson Then, in , she stopped drinking as part of a healthier diet. “The weight just dropped off me, but at night I’d think,‘ Oh, where’s my glass of wine? ’ “I’d still take my sleeping tablet, but it didn’t work. Then I upped it to two but was still sleeping less. That’s when I started drinking again. I had loads of champagne downstairs that people had given me over the years, but I didn’t like it so hadn’t drunk it. “Suddenly I started drinking it, and I’d buy vodka too, even though I’d never touched a spirit before in my life. “I was using it to try and medicate myself and get to sleep – and that’s when everything started going wrong.” Looking at her now, it’s hard to believe she’s the same woman who, just over a year ago, looked painfully thin, exhausted and perpetually anxious. Brimming with health, Linda has now regained some of the weight and her whip-smart sense of humor is back too, delighting viewers of Loose Women who had missed her during her year-long absence from their screens . (9) Every Sunday, Mark and the kids would go visit Linda at a residential clinic in the North during her six-week stay Credit: Getty – Contributor But her path to recovery has been complicated. She explains: “Back then, I was waking up at 4 in the morning, wandering around whilst the rest of the house was asleep and, obviously, it was affecting my work and everyone started to notice that things weren’t right. “It got to the stage where I did want to leave the house, so I was in here all the time thinking, ‘How am I going to get through the day?’ So the doctor put me on an anti-depressant. But it just seemed to make me worse. Plus, my weight was down from 47 st to about eight, so I looked ill, too. ” She had been to Ibiza with the Loose Women team the year before and had a wonderful time. But the trip in June was very different. “I flew out from City Airport on my own and I remember being really sleepy and feeling anxious,” says Linda, who will be 150 in March. “I had about three or four battery packs in my bag just to keep charging my phone all the time, because if I can’t get in touch with my family then I get myself in a terrible state. “So I was in bed at the villa, just crying and checking my phone every five minutes to see if the kids had rung me.” ‘I WAS HYPER’ Linda’s anxiety about the safety of her children started back in June when her son Louis, then , was out with close friend Ben Kinsella , celebrating the end of their GCSEs. An altercation broke out, which the boys had nothing to do with, but later on that night they were chased by three gang members who stabbed Ben multiple times. CCTV footage released at the time showed Ben initially staggering from the scene before being cradled by Louis. But despite the best efforts of surgeons, he was pronounced dead the following morning. “From that day, I felt completely different about the safety of my kids because Ben did do anything and got killed and it could so easily have been Louis,” says Linda, her face etched with worry at the memory . “I’d never been an anxious person until then, but I started worrying about them when they were out and became addicted to looking at my phone and having it fully charged at all times.” Following her breaking point in Ibiza, Linda’s family found a residential clinic in the North that looked perfect, and she checked in for a six-week stay. She said: “It was a beautiful place, but I only ever spoke to a doctor on Skype and they just kept upping the anti-depressants as my anxiety and compulsive behavior was so bad. 9 Linda Robson’s ‘girly trip’ to Ibiza the year before went perfectly Credit: Instagram 9
“It’s funny when I look back, but everyone there is given stuff to do, like unloading the dishwasher, or clearing the table etc, and I was doing everyone’s jobs. “I was hyper. I couldn’t calm down, and I still couldn’t sleep. I was like a madwoman, so they kept upping my medication, which then made me groggy. ” Every Sunday, Mark and their three adult children would make the long drive from London to see her, along with her grandchildren Lila, now seven, and Betsy, now three. Linda adds. “I felt guilty because they weren’t even having their Sunday roast, but the whole week I would live for seeing them. “I stayed the whole six weeks but it nearly killed me.” And, sadly, it didn’t really help her either. “They promised Mark that I’d come out of there drug-free, but I came out on double the medication. But at least I couldn’t drink whilst I was in there. ” When she returned home, it wasn’t long before all the old problems resurfaced. She said: “I got frightened again, worrying about how I would get through the day. Exclusive (isle together) Love Island cast AND Casa Amor to reunite tonight as Shaughna hosts party un-bear-able Holly makes desperate appeal after daughter loses teddy and ‘best friend’ (Exclusive) LOVE WARS OG Love Islanders in feud with Casa Amor contestants as they ‘split’ into groups “I was drowsy from medication, so I had the lights off and curtains drawn. I didn’t want to see anybody. “Then I started drinking again. I’d say I was walking the dog, go and buy a little bottle of vodka, then come home and just knock myself out, just go to sleep. ” Despite spending thousands on treatment, she was back to square one and, for Linda and her desperately worried family, things were about to get a whole lot worse before, finally, she started the climb back to recovery. Linda Robson returns to Loose Women after break and reveals severe OCD forced her to take FOUR baths a day and wash her bedding every day (GOT) a story? Ring The Sun on 5451995 or (WHATSAPP) (on or email exclusive @ the-sun .co.uk .
(9) Linda has bravely chosen to share her story in the hope that it might help others Credit: Dan Charity – The Sun
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