![\"Helen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SEI_271097298-7bdd-e1769504881171.jpg\")
\n\t\tHelen has opened up about a clash with a former co-star (Picture: Ian West\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tHelen has opened up about a clash with a former co-star (Picture: Ian West\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n
While Coronation Street<\/a> legend Helen Flanagan<\/a>\u2019s new autobiography, Head & Heart: Break-ups, Breakdowns and Being Rosie, isn\u2019t due to be released until January 29th, excerpts released from the book have revealed that an interaction with a fellow Weatherfield icon left her \u2018broken\u2019 and \u2018bawling her eyes out\u2019.<\/p>\n Opening up in her new book, the Rosie Webster<\/a> actress spoke about the time Antony Cotton<\/a>, who plays Sean Tully<\/a>, made a cruel jibe that brought her to tears.<\/p>\n \u2018The actor Antony Cotton, who played barman Sean Tully, once reduced me to tears when he took the mickey out of the fact I was on medication,\u2019 she began.<\/p>\n \u201dHere comes Helen Flanagan,\u2019 he said. \u2018You hear her rattling before you see her.\u2019 To him it was a joke for a few cheap laughs, but this was my life.<\/p>\n \u2018I didn\u2019t respond, I was too broken. Instead, I went to the toilets and bawled my eyes out.\u2019<\/p>\n Metro has reached out to both Coronation Street and representatives for Antony Cotton for comment.<\/p>\n \t\t \t\t The book details her struggles with postnatal depression<\/a>, PMDD, OCD, ADHD. Describing the time prior to a brutal mental health \u2018collapse\u2019, Helen said: \u2018Scott and I had been on cloud nine when our beautiful daughter Matilda was born, and I\u2019d thrown myself headfirst into motherhood. <\/p>\n \u2018I found joy in the simplest of things: pushing the pram around the streets, walks in the park, popping to the supermarket with Matilda in the baby carrier. I loved the fact that, after 13 years on Coronation Street and other TV shows, I was finally under the radar and out of the public eye. I was so happy with my little girl in my arms, doing normal, everyday things.\u2019<\/p>\n Soon, though, her mental wellbeing plummeted as she became plagued with anxiety and intrusive thoughts.<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019d got it into my head that one of my neighbours was trying to kill me. I\u2019d concocted this ludicrous story that he was a drug smuggler, working with my ex-fianc\u00e9, the former Manchester City<\/a>, Chelsea<\/a> and Aston Villa<\/a>\u00a0footballer, Scott Sinclair.\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t \u2018I started to obsess about germs and didn\u2019t want other people touching Matilda in case they passed something on. I didn\u2019t trust anyone else with my baby, sometimes not even Scott.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tDon’t miss a Soaps scoop! Add us as a Preferred Source\t\t\t<\/p>\n As a loyal Metro Soaps reader, we want to make sure you never miss our articles when searching for stories. We have all the latest soaps news, spoilers, videos, and interviews, with a vibrant community of highly engaged readers.<\/p>\n Click here<\/a> and tick\u00a0Metro.co.uk\u00a0to ensure you see stories from us first in Google Search.<\/p>\n \t\t Helen was later plagued with violent intrusive thoughts, one of which included throwing her baby down the stairs of her home.<\/p>\n Bravely speaking out, she explained that her thoughts were: \u2018vivid and often violent. It was brutal and relentless. I loved my daughter so much that I ached, and that\u2019s what made the thoughts all the more unbearable.<\/p>\n \u2018Every time I went upstairs, I\u2019d think I was going to chuck Matilda over the top of the banister, and I saw those images \u2013 of me letting go and watching her fall \u2013 flash through my mind as clear as day.\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t Helen has long been open about the challenges she\u2019s faced in regard to her mental health<\/a>, and, according to a pre-release Instagram<\/a> post, hopes that the autobiography will open conversations surrounding the topic and allow readers to feel less alone.<\/p>\n \u2018I think with mental health, when you talk, you feel less alone and I hope it makes you laugh too,\u2019 she said. <\/p>\n In a previous Instagram post, she described how unwell she had become at one point, and how writing down her feelings helped with her recovery.<\/p>\n \u2018I became extremely unwell. I was unable to work or look after my kids and I felt really powerless. When I began to write down what I was experiencing, I found it helped\u2026 from that, I wanted to create something positive.\u2019<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow Arrow![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/coro_comp.png\")
\n\t\tHelen detailed Antony making her cry (Picture: Shutterstock\/ITV)<\/p>\n![\"Helen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SEI_230811837-0e31.jpg\")
\n\t\tHelen has been incredibly open about her struggles with mental health (Picture: Yui Mok\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n![\"Helen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SEI_175210607-9b40.jpg\")
\n\t\tHelen hopes talking about her mental health will make it easier for others to open up (Picture: Doug Peters\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n![\"Soaps](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769520617_100_SEI_278522320-46a3.jpg\")
\n\t\tNow you can ensure you never miss a story from the Soaps team<\/p>\n![\"Rosie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SEI_277288174-5d3e.jpg\")
\n\t\tHelen is beloved by soap fans as Rosie Webster (Picture: ITV)
(Credits: ITV\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n
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