Former Coronation Street and Loose Women star Denise Welch has admitted she was strongly advised not to discuss her struggles with depression for fear it would damage her career.
The actress and presenter, who's currently starring in the second series of the transgender sitcom, Boy Meets Girl, has never shied away from discussing her own experience with the illness, said society still has "a long way to go" in how it treats people who are suffering from depression
Speaking to Ryan Tubridy on RTÉ Radio 1 today, she said that she will always talk about the illness in a bid to help others.
She said her struggles first began 27 years ago with post-natal depression following the birth of her eldest son, Matt Healy, the frontman of the band The 1975.
"I just felt that if it could happen to me it could happen to anybody - literally anybody," she said. "Something so horrible and so life-changing... something positive must come from it."
"I've always talked about it," she continued. "I've talked about it when I've been well and I've talked about it when I've been poorly and I will continue to do so at every opportunity because we've seen huge advances in the treatment of it, in the understanding of it, in the breaking down of the taboo of it in the 27 years I've had it. But we still have a long way to go."
Denise Welch during her time on the Loose Women panel
Welch said that in the very early stages of her TV career she had been advised against talking about mental illness by her then manager.
"He just said, 'Ooh, you don't want to be talking about that - people'll think you're mad'," she recalled. "And I thought, 'I don't care' and also, nobody ever has [thought she was mad]. I've never lost a job because I've admitted I suffered from depression."
The 58-year-old said now is a "good time" in her life and told listeners that if they are suffering from depression they are not alone and can get help.
"With the right treatment and care you will get better and look at me: most of the time I'm living a completely normal life," she said. "Occasionally I will get episodes but I feel that is my cross to bear. Some people have other ailments, physical and mental, and that's just the one I have."
Welch, who has been sober for four years, also urged people who are suffering from depression to give up alcohol.
"I don't want people thinking that by giving up drinking your depression goes," she explained, "but by God it's easier to deal with and the episodes are shorter-lived if you're not compounding it."
When Tubridy paid tribute to her resilience, Welch replied: "I've got two amazing children and they were always my reason to keep going. And I'm glad I did. They've managed to grow up into two amazing kids, so we did something right."
Denise Welch in Coronation Street
As to her time behind the bar in Coronation Street's The Rovers Return, Welch said she loved her years playing Natalie Barnes on the ITV soap, despite it being a tough time in her life.
"I was struggling with depression quite a lot when I was there so there was [sic] ups and downs," she admitted. "But then I was ready to leave: four years was enough for me in one stint. So I had a great time there. I was the landlady of the Rovers Return, and there's only a handful of women can say that. So I'll always wear that badge with pride."
Boy Meets Girl is on BBC Two on Wednesdays at 10pm.
