'I FEEL SORRY FOR THE PERSON I WAS'

Denise Welch on how her depression first started, addiction struggles and big regrets

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Denise Welch has been a mental health advocate for decades now. Her own battle started with postnatal depression following the birth of her eldest son Matty, now 35. And sadly for Denise, this led to a life-long struggle with depression, and even drug and alcohol problems, with the star once admitting, 'With addiction comes a lot of shame because, the person I am now, I cannot believe some of the things that I did and some of the decisions I made.'

Thankfully, she's now almost 13 years sober but she still struggles with depression, which she calls 'the unwelcome visitor'. At the end of last year she revealed, 'I had a really rough two weeks, which I'm still in a bit. Sadly, the unwelcome visitor paid me another visit, so I've not been well for a couple of weeks. This led to the star pulling out of her own charity ball and cancelling her panto job over Christmas.

But recently, the Loose Women star opened up about how her depression first began when Matty was born, recalling the first time she felt 'odd'.