Coronation Street’s Helen Flanagan reveals she fantasised about crashing her car into a wall and killing herself before she became a mum
The star felt so miserable on Corrie she thought about crashing her car on purpose so she would die, but being a mum has put it all into perspective
DRIVING to work on Coronation Street just five years ago, Helen Flanagan felt so miserable she fantasised about crashing her car into a wall and killing herself.
The actress and model had grown up on-screen to be teenage temptress Rosie Webster but was increasingly suffering panic attacks at work.
Desperate to get her health back on track, she quit the show.
But her acting career nose-dived and she became better known for glamour modelling as life cruelly delivered a series of hard knocks.
But now life is on the up for the 26-year-old who yesterday announced her return to the ITV show.
And she credits the arrival of gorgeous 15-month-old daughter Matilda for making her feel ready for her big comeback.
She said: “Matilda inspires me to be the best person I can be.
“I feel like I’ve massively matured now I’ve got Matilda.
“It’s definitely changed me for the better and made me happy, because I feel that it’s given me a reason.
“Everything gets put into perspective.
“You think: ‘Well, as long as she’s healthy and alright . . . ’ It gives a meaning to your life.”
When she left the ITV soap in January 2012, Helen was in a dark place.
She had secretly stopped taking the medication she had been prescribed for her ADHD and bipolar disorder.
She recalled: “One day I was driving into the ITV studios and I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if I just crashed my car now and it was all over?’
“I’ve suffered from depression.
“It was the main reason I had to leave Coronation Street.
“I was down and it was very intense — I don’t think I was very well.”
Now mental-health campaigner Helen is so well she’s come off her medication on doctors’ orders and has learned to manage her depression, anxiety, ADHD and bipolar disorder with weekly cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).
She said: “I don’t want to pass any negative energy or behaviour down to Matilda, so I’ve been seeing a therapist once a week for a while and things have really improved.
“CBT gets to the root of any problem, so I feel in a good place now.
“It’s something I will always work on, but I don’t take medication any more.”
Indeed Helen is so keen to be a positive role model for her daughter that since Matilda’s arrival sadly for Helen’s male fans, she has decided to stop posting pouting selfies and turn down endless requests for sexy shoots — her racy shots here were taken in 2014.
Helen said: “I was recently looking at my Instagram (from before Matilda) and thinking: ‘Oh my God, were you off your head? What the hell?’
“There was a picture of me in my flat in some underwear and I thought: ‘Why would you ever do that?’”
When aspiring model Rosie left Weatherfield to be a reality star, life imitated art as Helen quickly signed up for a regrettable stint on I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!
The show saw Helen reduced to tears several times as vicious viewers nominated her for every trial, driving her to the brink.
Just seven months later, in June 2013, three raiders broke into the Cheshire mansion she shared with her boyfriend, footie star Scott Sinclair, while terrified Helen was home wihout him.
Then she and Scott split briefly following reports he had sent racy texts to another woman.
Of her and Scott’s brief split in 2013, Helen explained: “That was really awful.
“It was difficult living out our relationship in the public eye.
"Scott and I have been together for such a long time.
“Nobody is perfect, no one.
“Especially when they are young and learning, I’m not perfect.”
But she continued: “Since we got back together, we’ve both changed and matured.
"When you have time apart, you have time to change and I feel like it’s a completely different relationship now.
“It works better.
“There is a lot of love between us and we’re happy.”
The pair are devoted parents but following Scott’s £4.5million signing to Scottish giants Celtic, the family is temporarily homeless and living in a Glasgow hotel.
But more than settling on a new family home, Helen wants to get married.
The pair were recently spotted jewellery shopping and when she was pregnant she warned she wanted a giant diamond engagement ring.
She said: “We’ll definitely get married at some point.
“Scott knows what type of ring I want — one with a huge rock on it.”
Despite her love for Scott, it is important for Helen to let him know she is more than just a Wag and returning to Coronation Street will help her prove to him she too is successful.
The Bury-born actress is picking up £30,000 for a three-month stint in the New Year.
“If successful, it is thought she could rejoin the soap for good.
Street bosses had been trying to lure her back, desperate to inject some glamour back into the soap after Georgia May Foote, 25, and Michelle Keegan, 29, quit.
Our source said: “Going back to Corrie is a chance for Helen to keep her own identity and show Scott she is in demand — and has plenty of options.”
While Helen has a huge army of fans, with more than 500,000 followers on Twitter, she’s also come under fire for several “brainless” online gaffes.
The worst was the day she posted a picture of herself wearing a bra and holding a gun to her head in the wake of the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre that left 26 students and staff dead.
In a grovelling apology afterwards, she admitted: “It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life.
“It was just relating to a hangover that I had and then I tweeted it and I started getting all these reactions of, ‘how insensitive, how could you do this?’ and I just felt sick.
“I am incredibly sorry and I couldn’t be more sorry.
“And I tweeted it completely out of context – it was just about this hangover.
“My heart bleeds for all the families.”
Just a few months later she found herself in trouble again when she praised pro-anorexia “thinspiration” pictures online.
Again Helen — who suffered with an eating disorder in her teens — quickly apologised saying: “It is difficult being a role model.”
At times she has been bluntly accused of being stupid, particularly after confusing Russia for Australia on a globe while filming Celebrity Juice, despite having been there just six months beforehand to film I’m A Celebrity.
She confessed: “I do think I come across as ditzy, and it’s really embarrassing.
“But I’m not stupid and if I was really that stupid, I wouldn’t care.”
And if it was caring too much that drove Helen into depression four years ago, friends hope that — thanks to the love of Scott and Matilda — she has finally faced down her fears and will once again become the princess of Weatherfield.
A source close to Helen told The Sun: “Helen got caught up in the whirlwind of reality TV, social media and glamour modelling.
"It was fun for a while but it isn’t what she wants to do or what she is trained to do.
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“Having a baby has really grounded her and she’s and so settled with Scott she wants to put all that sexy stuff behind her and go back to her acting roots.
"She’s going back to Coronation Street where she feels comfortable among friends to get back in the saddle.
“Now she has got her anxiety under control she’s feeling much more confident.
“It’s small steps but she wants to work hard and really hopes people are impressed by how much she’s grown as an actress.”