Celebrity Big Brother star Marisha Wallace’s tragic family history with schizophrenic ex and dad who banned Christmas
CELEBRITY Big Brother star Marisha Wallace opened up about some of the difficulties in her life before going into the house.
The West End performer revealed some of the tough times she endured, such as her father banning Christmas and her ex-husband being diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Marisha, 38, told about how she grew up hiding Christmas celebrations from her father, who suffered from an diagnosed mental health issue.
She said: "My mum tried to put up Christmas trees and a wreath. He’d take them down. She tried to put up lights. He’d take them down.
"And my mum would put our presents in a bin bag to hide them from him. Then on Christmas Day we’d go into a tiny room and have secret Christmas.
"Everyone thinks of Christmas as a joyous time. But sometimes it can bring heartache."
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Marisha's ex husband who she'd been with for ten years, was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and previously attempted suicide.
About her experience with her ex, Marisha said: "I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t know what it was.
";We got him therapy and medicine. But the medicine wasn’t right. And in the States this was expensive.
"You want to keep going with it but it costs so much, then because of your illness you can’t work, then because you can’t work you can‘t function, and if you can’t do that you can’t get insurance, and if you don’t have money you can’t pay for the help you need.
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"In the end he had to go back to Australia where the healthcare is free."
As someone who looked after her then-husband, Marisha added: "What I’ve learnt from it is that you also need to take care of the people that are taking care of the people with mental illness, It’s not just one person’s crisis."
The star also revealed that she almost lost her voice after doctors found a cyst on her vocal cord.
Surgically removing the cyst meant that there'd be a chance Marisha may never be able to sing again but after receiving a lot of prayers in church, she said: "The doctor went to take the cyst out and it was gone.
"He said it looked like someone had already taken it out. He’d taken out the scar tissue around it and said 'Now you have to heal'."
The star has been in many theatre productions including Aladdin, Book of Mormon, Something Rotten and Dreamgirls.
Marisha is taking on a whole new challenge as one of the stars taking part in Celebrity Big Brother 2024.
She is expected to be one of the first 12 stars entering the famous pad when the show returns at 9pm tonight.
