Hollyoaks’ Nikki Sanderson reveals battle with ‘very very bad depression’ in her 20s
HOLLYOAKS and Coronation Street favourite Nikki Sanderson has opened up on the darker side of life off-camera and her "very bad" battle with depression.
The Blackpool-born actress, now 36, joined ITV soap Corrie as Sarah Platt's best mate Candice Stowe aged just 15, and left the cobbles aged 21.
She confessed to Mirror Online it was around about then when depression struck, plunging her into a particularly troubled time.
Bravely opening up on her mental health battle, she told the publication: "If I go from a busy lifestyle to nothingness it’s very hard.
"It’s bad for my mental health, feeling empty, so I try to keep my mind motivated.
"I suffered depression in my 20s and it was a very, very, bad time.
"I’m lucky my mind is healthy now.
"But I have to stay busy to avoid the feeling of a lull. I’m fortunate I always have someone at the end of the phone."
The soap star, who currently plays Maxine Minniver in Channel 4 show Hollyoaks, gushed over the support she has received from bosses and added: "At Hollyoaks they email us all the time, reminding us they’re there and checking in on us.
"That’s hugely helpful."
The star first made her battle with mental health issues public in 2018, with a message posted to her Instagram page.
She accompanied it with the candid caption: “This is the first time I have openly and publicly admitted this, as like so many, I had been ashamed and embarrassed...
"I have suffered with depression in the past.
Meanwhile, her current strong mental health aided her in her latest TV project, on Bear Grylls' gritty series, Celebrity SAS.
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She gushed to MirrorOnline how it had "such an impact" on her mental health, and offered huge praise to the off-screen doctors and psychologists.
Talking of the impact on her emotional health, she added: "You can’t switch off. Sleeping was awful at first.
"I’d got used to being woken up by someone running in, shouting, dragging me out of bed in the middle of the night, so my mind was still thinking that would happen."
Meanwhile, she has been making the most of the quieter time of lockdown by spending time renovating her home with boyfriend of five years, Greg Whitehurst.