The TV presenter, 56, chose to leave the ITV show to focus on her lifestyle brand in 2020 \u2013 however, she ultimately lost her home and hundreds of thousands in life savings during the pandemic. She also faced a series of health crises<\/a> that left her unable to work, having been diagnosed with severe pneumonia, acute kidney injury and sepsis after collapsing at home. <\/p>\n Speaking in a new podcast interview, McLean spoke about the \u201chumiliating\u201d time. <\/p>\n \u201cI lost everything, literally everything in my fifties,\u201d she told HELLO!\u2019s Second Act podcast.<\/p>\n \u201cMy home, health, finances, I lost my identity in terms of I’m not \u2018that lady\u2019 anymore. When you’re in your 20s and you’re finding your way in the world, people are a lot more accommodating. I lost it all.\u201d<\/p>\n McLean added that she felt \u201cshame\u201d about it all and thought that people would \u201cpoint and laugh\u201d at her for quitting TV to start a business that \u201cdidn\u2019t work\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cI tried to get a job in Starbucks and they didn\u2019t even get back to me, it was humiliating. My agent told me I would never work in TV again if someone saw me,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s all very well, but I needed a job and money to buy food for the kids. Shame is not an option.\u201d <\/p>\n McLean, who married her third husband Nick Feeney in 2017, has a 24-year-old son and nine-year-old daughter as well as two stepdaughters. <\/p>\n \u201cI’ve literally done the most embarrassing thing that a human being can do, which is to tell the whole world that they’re going to leap out and see if they can fly,\u201d she added. \u201cAnd I didn’t fly. I landed flat on my face and I completely embarrassed myself.\u201d<\/p>\n As for how she\u2019s doing now, McLean said that she\u2019s \u201cstill in the trenches\u201d but in a better place \u201cmentally and emotionally\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cOur relationship survived and that\u2019s huge,\u201d she added, referring to her husband Feeney. <\/p>\n Last year, McLean revealed that she had collapsed at home and lay on her bathroom floor for an hour before her husband found her and rushed her to hospital. <\/p>\n \u201cThen my X-ray and CT scans came back. I had severe pneumonia<\/a>, acute kidney Injury and sepsis<\/a>,\u201d she said in February. \u201cThings happened quickly; drips, super-strong antibiotics via IV and orally, and I was transferred to the Emergency Assessment Ward.\u201d <\/p>\n McLean spent four days in hospital recovering and later told fans that she was \u201cstill having funny turns\u201d. <\/p>\n![\"Andrea](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/01KSM0NE1EY7BDK0H0N0FHA4XX.jpg\")
Andrea McClean with her fellow ‘Loose Women’ stars (Denise Welch, Zoe Tyler, Coleen Nolan and Kate Thornton) in 2011 (PA)<\/p>\n![\"Andrea](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/01KSM0NJA3ES5QNZRGY2NW052F.jpg\")
Andrea McLean couldn\u2019t get a job in Starbucks after leaving \u2018Loose Women\u2019 (PA)<\/p>\n