Linda Robson took a year off from Loose Women after a ‘meltdown’ with her OCD and an alcohol problem led to her family ‘locking her up’.
The actress, 61, who hadn’t been seen on the ITV daytime show since January 2019. returned as a guest on Friday and explained why she had to step away.
She told her co-stars: ‘I was having a meltdown. I came off the wine, and 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.
Tough times: Linda Robson took a year off from ‘ Loose Women ‘ after a ‘meltdown’ with her OCD
‘So I went to see somebody about it and they gave me a tablet – I won’t mention the name but I had a really bad reaction to it, a proper meltdown. I got really bad anxiety, really bad depression, and my OCD kicked into overdrive.’
The heartbreaking dependency and outcome left her family seeking desperate measures when they sought to ‘find her someone to go’.
She went on: ‘Family found me somewhere to go, to help me, I went in this place for six weeks, went into it on so many tablets and left with even more, it was my doctor who said you’ve had the worse reaction to this medication I have ever seen…
On her terrifying ‘comedown’, she said: ‘Even that you have to come down slowly, took me a long time to get back to feeling normal.’
Happy days: The actress, 61, who hadn’t been seen on the ITV daytime show since January 2019. returned as a guest on Friday and explained why she had to step away
Heartache: When asked if police were called to intervene, Linda went on: ‘Yeah they were called, cos I was drinking they were locking me in because I couldn’t get out, I was shouting get me out, so police were called as they thought I was kidnapped’
When asked if police were called to intervene in the midst of her problems, Linda went on: ‘Yeah they were called, because I was drinking…
‘They were locking me in because I couldn’t get out, I was shouting get me out, so police were called as they thought I was kidnapped… That was my family trying to keep me safe’.
Aside from her substance woes, Linda revealed she was taking ‘four baths’ each day as she suffered with her obsessive-compulsive disorder. She added: ‘At one point, I was having four baths a day, I was washing my bedding every day…
Support: The ladies were throwing their full support behind their colleague and pals (left-right Kaye Adams, Stacey Solomon, Linda Robson, Nadia Sawalha and Jane Moore)
‘People joke when they hear someone saying about OCD they think it’d a bit of a joke or whatever, but it’s not actually a joke, it took over my life. I couldn’t clean everything enough.’
Commenting on her recovery, Linda – who revealed she was drinking to ‘self-medicate’ before seeking treatment and hasn’t drank alcohol in 11 months – noted there wasn’t a quick fix but she felt like she was ‘finally’ out the other side.
She admitted: ‘If you’d ever told me, I’d always been really positive. [There’s been no quick fix], it’s been a long, long time. Touch wood, I’m finally there!’
In October, she previously confirmed she would be back on the panel show and was excited to return. She said at the time: ‘[I can’t wait for] the gossip in the green room and our little chats. That’s my favourite part – things you never see on air.’
Shocker: Nadia Sawalha said: ‘We were all really worried… we were so worried we watched you losing weight, talked about how you yourself, it was like a dimmer switch
Things came to a head when the Loose Women headed on a holiday to Ibiza, during which her co-stars believed she was battling dementia.
Nadia Sawalha said: ‘We were all really worried… we were so worried we watched you losing weight, talked about how you yourself, it was like a dimmer switch dimming down, we were losing you. Our fear was you might have dementia, then it all came to a head where we had an intense night.’
A tearful Stacey Solomon went on: ‘It was a really intense night, where I saw your severe OCD in action, sometimes we joke about it, but actually watching you…
‘Your phone had to be charged 100% every two mins, oh It’s 99%. Straight in the same direction to the charging point. Chargers after chargers.’
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