Denise Welch has hit back with a defiant three-word response for trolls who have claimed that ‘she has made Loose Women all about her’.
The 66-year-old and co-star Jane Moore, 62, appeared on This Morning on Wednesday to talk to Cat Deeley, 48, and Ben Shepherd, 50, about their brand new podcast Loose Women: The Podcast.
Denise has been on the Loose Women panel since 2005 and is a huge favourite with viewers.
But on This Morning, the Hollyoaks star hit back at some nasty comments that she’s read about herself.
Denise said: ‘It does make me laugh when you get people on some of the more cruel social media channels and they go “Oh Denise Welch, it’s always about you.”
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Denise Welch hits back with defiant three-word response for trolls who claim ‘she has made Loose Women all about her’
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The 66-year-old and co-star Jane Moore , 62, appeared on the ITV show on Wednesday to talk to Cat Deeley , 48, and Ben Shepherd, 50, about their show’s brand new podcast Loose Women: The Podcast
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Denise has been on Loose Women since 2005
‘It’s like… yes, that’s the show. That’s in our contract.’
Jane chimed in: ‘That’s the point!’
Denise added: ‘It’s meant to be about us. It’s an opinion and anecdotal-lead show. Which is very different from some of the other shows where you have to remain much more neutral.’
The first episode has already dropped – and it saw Denise and Aya Field Williams open up about motherhood, addiction and their Hollywood crushes.
The pair explained how great the podcast is, because now they can speak about important topics in more depth.
Denise explained: ‘What’s so lovely is that we have the time to let these subjects breathe a bit more, I have talked about the onset of my depression, which started postnatally, many times, but not in as much depth as I was able to do on the [podcast] show.’
She added: ‘I’ve known Ayda for a long time but I’ve always wanted to talk to her, if she was open to it, about did she feel different when she gave birth to her own children, because she gave birth to her own children, because she had two by surrogate.
‘So it was so lovely to have a conversation with someone I’ve known a long time.’
Last month Kaye Adams, Kelly Brook, Nadia Sawalha and Jane announced the exciting new venture during one of their live episodes.
Denise explained: ‘It’s going to be a little bit more about our lives so we will be asking each other questions…
‘We have the time to let these subjects breathe a bit more.’
Jane added: ‘It’s nice to have a more intimate feel to it.’
It comes after Denise returned to the Loose Women studio last month.
The star fought back tears as she revealed the truth behind her extended absence from the programme.
The actress, who has been open about her mental health in the past, appeared on Tuesday’s instalment of the ITV show alongside co-stars Ruth Langsford, Janet Street-Porter and Judi Love.
Denise was last seen live on Loose Women at the end of November, and then again for a pre-recorded segment about postnatal depression for the programme’s 25-hour talkathon the following month.
Addressing her absence from TV screens since, the soap star emotionally told how she realised something was wrong after a busy month of working throughout November.
She said how she first knew something wasn’t right when she accidentally drove up a one-way street and became overwhelmed by feelings of anxiety in the weeks afterwards.
Denise told the panel: ‘It was so black, so dark, so quickly.’
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Denise Welch fought back the tears on Loose Women as she revealed the truth behind her extended absence from show
She told how began to suffer with panic attacks and her husband Lincoln tried to take her commitments out of her diary, including her theatre stint and her own charity ball.
After starting work on a pantomime, Denise recalled how she had collapsed in her hotel foyer within three days, adding: ‘I said to my agent you’ve got to pull me out.’
The star then fought back tears as she told how she overcame the episode and managed to put the feelings behind her after rest and recuperating.
‘I’ve made a recovery from this episode,’ she emotionally told her co-stars.
However, in another blow to her health, Denise was then rushed to hospital last week with acute peritonitis – an infection of the stomach lining – shortly after returning to the UK.
Denise explained: ‘I got back from a lovely holiday in the Caribbean last Saturday. All bronzed looking forward to coming on here and showing off my suntan. I got rushed into hospital on the Saturday with acute peritonitis – a perforated diverticulitis.
‘I’ve been in hospital for a drip for a week! They didn’t have to do surgery, they got it with antibiotics thankfully. As my mother said, ‘Take me to the knacker’s yard!”‘
Denise has been absent from the spotlight since she pulled out of a pantomime role, where she had been due to play Captain Hook at the Nottingham Theatre Royal over Christmas.
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The 66-year-old appeared on the ITV show for the first time in a couple of months after suffering with her mental health
She was replaced by actor Richard Winsor, 43, and went on to also pull out of her own annual charity ball for GEM Appeal at Kimpton Clocktower Hotel at the end of November.
Just weeks before her absence, Denise had opened up about her mental health while on the Loose Women panel with Kaye Adams, 62, Janet Street Porter, 78, and Judi Love, 44.
‘I’ve had a really tough two weeks, which I’m still in a bit,’ she admitted.
‘I’d just done a podcast and article saying how I’d been free for five ears of clinical depression and I hope that something happened before I had a baby, reversed.
‘But sadly the unwelcomed visitor paid me another visit.
‘I’ve not been well for a couple of weeks, the reason why we’ve alluded to it is because we do all these things like Britain get talking, it’s good to talk.
‘Sometimes people still find it isn’t always good to talk for them.
‘I just wanted to come on here because, what I need when I’m poorly, I need for my friends to just know I need time to get well…
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Just weeks before her absence, Denise had opened up about her mental health while on the Loose Women panel
‘The people I work with, to say if you want to come to work, come to work, if you don’t, like last week I didn’t come I know my illness more than anyone.’
She added: ‘I’ve been free of the morning fear for a long time, because this illness is like this, I can be ok today, tomorrow I can be absolutely terrible and it’s isolating.
‘The NHS still describe depression as ongoing sadness, sadness is something you have a result of having something making you sad. it’s a health emotion.
‘Depression does exactly what it says on the tin.’
