I won't let smoking take me from my grandchildren and my kids

Kym Marsh tells LISA SALMON why she quit cigarettes and wants to help others do likewise

- LISA SALMON

FOR Kym Marsh, quitting smoking was all about family.

And that's not just doing everything to stay healthy for her three children and three grandchildren, but also because her dad, a heavy smoker, had a cardiac arrest at the age of 49 an age Kym is herself approaching.

The actress and TV presenter started smoking in her late teens and smoked on and off for 25 years. She kicked the habit a few years ago, and is appearing in an NHS film to help encourage the nation's six millions smokers to quit like she did.

"The final turning point was my grandchildren really, and obviously my kids," she says. "I think it was becoming a grandparent, and realising I'm still fairly young to be a grandparent and I've got the opportunity of doing some really amazing, adventurous things with them and I don't want to cut that short.

"I knew I shouldn't be smoking, because my dad had a massive cardiac arrest when he was 49, and thankfully recovered and we got him for many more years, but that was all down to the fact that he was a very, very heavy smoker.

"And I just thought 'Come on Kym, this should be the time when you look at your life and go, actually, I want to be around. I'm not going to let something like what happened to my dad take me away from my grandchildren and my kids."

Kym, 48, who played Michelle Connor in Coronation Street for 13 years and now presents BBC1's Morning Live with Gethin Jones, admits that giving up cigarettes was tough.