Loose Women's Andrea McLean regrets not seeking help earlier when she suffered breakdown
Loose Women panelist Andrea McLean says her biggest regret is failing to get help when she needed it. The telly star suffered a nervous breakdown last year which left her contemplating taking her own life
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Loose Women star Andrea McLean has said her biggest regret in life is not seeking help earlier when she suffered a nervous breakdown.
The telly regular, 51, found herself in a dark place as she battled crippling mental health issues and even found herself contemplating suicide.
She has made a recovery after seeking professional and Andrea admits she wishes she'd reached out sooner.
When asked to name her biggest regret in life, she told The Sun : "That I took so long to get help.
"I wish I’d done it years ago. But I believe everything happens when it’s supposed to. I don’t care so much about what people think now."
In October, Andrea bravely opened up on the dark night where she wanted to take her own life.
Andrea was in a hotel room for work when months of money worries and stress culminated in a sudden onslaught of suicidal feelings.
"Unless someone’s been there it’s impossible to describe," she told The Mirror. "It lasted a night and it was the longest night, dark and horrible. I was on the floor, pacing the room and crying."
"The next morning I got up off the floor and went to work. I spent a whole day pretending everything was fine. By the time I got home I thought, ‘It’s passed. I still don’t feel right but I don’t want to think about it any more.’ So I never mentioned it."
She has since bounced back and recently decided to take control of her life by quitting her job on Loose Women.
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Andrea admitted there are other projects she wants to work on and decided to take a leap of faith by stepping down from the panel.
She told fellow panellists Janet Street Porter, Judi Love and Stacey Solomon she thought hard about her future during the coronavirus pandemic.
Andrea said: "As you know I had a really rough year, and I think anyone who has experienced any kind of mental distress.
"I had a breakdown last year and then obviously we have a global pandemic, you stop and think about your life, everyone was saying, 'I can't wait to go back to as it was'.
"And I thought 'If you discount this year and go into next year, that means next year I will be going back to 2019.'
"I want to look forward and, how do I want my life to be? I realised I need to be brave, I need to make bold steps, I am 51, so how much longer have I got?"
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