Sheridan Smith opens up about her mental breakdown for first time, revealing her ‘life was falling apart’ and crisis was ‘a long time coming’
SHERIDAN Smith has revealed her 'life was falling apart' as she opens up about her mental breakdown for the first time.
The acclaimed actress has had a tumultuous 12 months which has seen her battle anxiety and depression as well as losing her beloved father Colin in December last year.
His diagnosis and death triggered her mental breakdown, with Sheridan telling the : "My life was falling apart and I didn’t tell anyone.
"I was totally terrified that I was going to come unstuck, that I couldn’t hold these feelings of insecurity in much longer without it coming to a head.
";Which it did last year. My dad getting cancer triggered it, but it had been a long time coming.
"Things have been weird for years."
Sheridan added her anxiety and feelings of insecurity increased the more successful she became, winning rave reviews for her performances on stage and in TV dramas including Cilla and The C Word.
During her career she has received BAFTA and Olivier awards, but despite the glory she hid her mental health issues.
Eventually everything came to a head and she had to take a two month break from Funny Girl, having already missed a couple of performances when her dad was diagnosed.
She was accused of being drunk on stage, something she vehemently denies ever doing, explaining it was her life crumbling around her.
She said: "All I could imagine was people thinking, ‘You should be grateful. Get over yourself.’
"But when you have that degree of anxiety, you can’t just pull yourself together and you can’t explain it. It just snowballs until it’s out of control."
Thankfully Sheridan's time out of the spotlight has helped her gain control over her demons, and she made a triumphant return to the public eye last Sunday on Strictly Come Dancing's results show to perform a song from her new album.
She looked better than ever in a gold dress with perfectly coiffed hair as she belted out show tune My Man on the results show tonight.
The stage star was given a HUGE round of applause as she finished her performance and fans flocked to Twitter to praise her vocals.
One wrote: "Loved Sheridan Smith on #Strictly, what an amazingly talented woman."
Another added: "Wow, Sheridan Smith can sing!!! Bloody hell that was good #Strictlyresults #Strictly..."
A third added: "I know we all know it but I'm going to say it anyway - Sheridan Smith really is a one of a kind isn't she? #Strictly."
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