The Loose Women favourite has been sober for over 13 years – but said she swapped alcohol for foodThe actor said she started binge eating after becoming sober(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)

Denise Welch said she has lost over two stone in weight, despite being ‘addicted’ to food, after ‘completely changing her relationship’ with it. The Loose Women star has shared how she struggled with binge eating after ‘swapping one addiction for another’.

The 67-year-old also recently saw her mental health worsen after a clear stretch of five years. “Some people deal with diabetes, or MS or cancer – my thing is mental illness,” she tells OK! in an exclusive interview, the Mirror reports.

Just before Christmas the Loose Women favourite was forced to pull out of an acting job, followed by time off from her ITV job, because of depression and anxiety.

Denise Welch on Loose Women(Image: ITV)

“I live with it, and I enjoy the periods in between my episodes,” she said. Denise has now been back on the panel for a few months, and it’s very much a case of onwards and upwards – especially with some major changes on the horizon.

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Denise, who shares sons Matty, lead vocalist and songwriter in The 1975, and actor Louis, with her ex-husband Tim Healy, has worked hard on her confidence – but the starting point was giving up alcohol 13 years ago.

By then she was a household name, thanks to roles including Rovers Return landlady Natalie Barnes in Coronation Street and teacher Steph Haydock in Waterloo Road. She’s now been famous for more years than she hasn’t. “I can’t really remember a time before,” she says. “It’s just how it is for our family.”

When Denise got sober, she admits she quickly became “in danger of replacing one addiction with another” – food. She was binge eating, she says, but signing up to LighterLife was about far more than shifting the extra two and-a-half stones. “LighterLife was the only company talking about the emotional side of eating, and using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to completely change my relationship with food.

She continues, “I was very newly sober so many of the things that I was learning through CBT, I was able to apply to my sobriety also.” The repercussions of giving up booze spread far wider than just herself, though.

Denise on the Loose Women panel(Image: ITV)

“My children, my marriage, everything, is down to my sobriety,” she says. “It’s given my children and my stepson, Lewis, the wings to fly without worrying about me. I’m proud of the people I have created as a friendship group around me. That’s got to be something down to me? That I still have the same friends I had years ago, and that they love me and they support me.

“I’m proud of some of the things I’ve done as an actress. It might sound big-headed, but it’s the one thing I say I’m f*****g good at. “And I’m going to concentrate on reminding everybody of that!”

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It comes after ITV announced it was merging production teams on three of its daytime shows in May, and cutting Loose Women and Lorraine back to 30 weeks a year.

Although the channel insisted there wouldn’t be any “radical changes” with the panellists, it’s understandably prompted a few thoughts about what’s next. For Denise, who joined the show in 2005, it’s an opportunity to make a return to what she knows and loves best – acting.

“I’m on television because I’m gobby and opinionated, and I think people can forget what I really do, and what I’m really good at, so I’m going to make a concerted effort to go back to what I do and know.”

Denise, who celebrated 12 years of marriage to artist Lincoln Townley recently, says Loose Women holds a special place in her heart – not least because the average age of its stars is around 50. “It’s the only show in the country that not only celebrates older women, but reveres and listens to older women’s opinions,” she says.

The 67-year-old recently saw backlash for posting pictures of her in a swimming costume on social media – something she wants to change the negative narrative around.

“Maybe I’m out to empower women, but I’m definitely out to say, ‘F*** off, haters.’ I’ve changed the narrative from ‘I’m 67’ to ‘I’m only 67’. I’ll wear swimwear if I live until I’m 97. And if you don’t like it, don’t look at my pictures.

Loose Women’s Denise Welch poses in swimsuit after dismissing hundreds of complaints(Image: Denise Welch Instagram)

“There’s a lot of misogyny out there, too. So, there’s an element of devilment in me as well, which is to say, ‘Don’t you ever tell any woman what she can and can’t wear.’ We had Christie Brinkley on Loose Women recently. She’s 71 and looks unbelievable.”

Denise Welch is working with LighterLife, a leading weight loss programme which combines nutritionally complete diet plans with CBT to help people holistically transform their lives. Go to lighterlife.com