Majella O’Donnell used her appearance on the Late Late Show on Friday night to appeal to viewers to seek help if they are experiencing mental health difficulties.
She told host Patrick Kielty about her experiences with depression over the years.
She said that she was “feeling really good now” but had gone through “a very, very bad patch in 2024”.
O’Donnell recounted that she received inpatient psychiatric care for 10 weeks in 2024.
It was a number of weeks before she felt well enough to have her husband, the singer Daniel O’Donnell, and other members of her family as visitors.
Reflecting on her experience of seeking help, she said: “All I can say to people at home, if you have any struggles with your [mental health], and I always say this when I’m doing interviews, I’m purely talking about my experience, everybody else’s might be different, but from my experience, it was so worth doing.
“Never feel ashamed for having mental health problems, because we’re human” 🤍
The incredible Majella O’Donnell candidly opening up about her depression.
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“And if you are that person who’s feeling really, really low, go to your GP. Go to them, tell them how you feel. Tell them what you need.”
“Please God, in 20/30 years’ time, maybe not in my lifetime, we will be talking about depression and mental health illness as if we were talking about cancer. There’s no shame in it, and that’s why I’m happy to talk about it. It’s not my fault,” she continued.
“Don’t anybody ever feel [it’s your fault]. I’ll go and tell anybody, ‘Yes, I was in a psychiatric hospital!’ Yeah, I was – and they fixed me. And that’s ok. Don’t ever, ever feel shameful about it.
“I’m looking down the camera and I’m saying it to you all out there, never feel ashamed for having mental health problems, because we’re human.”
She added: “I come out and I talk about things like this, and I know I get the keyboard warriors, and I’ve seen them and I’ve read things and they’re horrible.
“And to people like that I would say, you know, when you’re critical to somebody on social media online, you’re not criticising their opinions, you’re criticising that person.
“And that person, without you knowing, may be just hanging on to life. They may be very vulnerable. And your words – those words of ‘She’s looking for attention’, all those things – they’re not helpful, they’re hurtful. So please, think twice before you comment on people…”
If you have been affected by issues raised in this article, please visit: www.rte.ie/helplines.
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