Denise Welch admits she ‘should've stepped back from Corrie’ as drinking became ‘problem'
express.co.ukLoose Women panellist Denise Welch, 64, sometimes arrived for work at the Coronation Street set while still under the influence after staying up all night.The star, who is currently appearing alongside her husband Lincoln on BBC show Unbreakable, reveals she found it very tough to cope with starring in the ITV soap as Natalie Barnes, after landing the role in 1997.She said: “If I was away from home, I would be awake all night and go straight to work.That wouldn’t happen now on TV shows. "There were times when I shouldn’t have even been on.
But it was a different time.”Denise candidly added to Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe’s Parenting Hell podcast, in quotes obtained by The Sun: “My drinking really started to be a problem during the Coronation Street times.
I had always loved a party."But that was getting p***ed on a Saturday night and feeling rough on a Sunday. I didn’t have a problem.“When I was doing Corrie it was watched by 21million people an episode.That is a third of the country.There is a lot of f***ing pressure on you for that.”Denise revealed the demands of the role got on top of her, as she used her alcohol dependency to numb the pain of her depression.She recalled: “The schedule was unforgiving.
Rather than stay off work — people stay off if they’ve lost an eyelash these days — I was from ‘the show must go on’ school.“There were times when I think I should have stepped back.” Denise went on to explain she felt she would have had more sympathy if she had a physical illness, rather than a mental illness.However, the presenter began to feel isolated due to her condition, and started relying on drugs and alcohol to cope.She continued: “But the horrible isolating thing about depression is you have an invisible.
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