HEARTBREAKING NEWS: Coronation Street star suffering ‘considerable difficulty’ as she reveals health setback
Coronation Street legend Amanda Barrie has opened up about the health problems she is dealing with at 91 — while admitting her determination to remain fiercely independent can sometimes backfire.
The actress, best known to millions as Alma Halliwell in the ITV soap, celebrated her 91st birthday this month and says she has no intention of behaving as though age should dictate what she can and cannot do.
But Amanda conceded that her instinct to reject help recently made an existing injury worse.
Writing in her column for The i Paper, she revealed she is currently struggling to walk after injuring her Achilles tendon.
Amanda Admits Refusing Help Backfired
Amanda recalled how a taxi driver recently tried to assist her as she got out of his cab.
Rather than accept the offer, she attempted to move away quickly.
“I recently pulled my Achilles tendon and, at the moment, am experiencing considerable difficulty walking,” she wrote.
“Yet when a taxi driver got out of his cab to assist me, I took off at speed to escape him, then tripped over the curb and did my Achilles even more damage.”
The incident perfectly summed up what Amanda described as her determination to keep going despite the physical challenges that come with age.
She admitted that while the philosophy helps keep her active, it can also occasionally work against her.
Actress Also Opens Up About Eyesight Problem
Amanda also revealed that she continues to experience problems with her eyesight following a retinal vein occlusion years ago.
“My eyesight has never been quite right since I suffered a retinal vein occlusion many years ago,” she explained.
She said the condition has left her unable to accurately judge the distance and speed of approaching traffic.
According to Moorfields Eye Hospital, retinal vein occlusion occurs when a vein carrying blood away from the eye becomes blocked and can cause a sudden, painless reduction in vision.
Despite those difficulties, Amanda joked that she still instinctively insists she is capable of managing without assistance.
“But still I protest. ‘I’m fine,’ I say, stepping in front of a truck. ‘Absolutely fine’,” she wrote.
Amanda Says Work Keeps Her Going
While many people would have retired decades earlier, Amanda said continuing to work gives her motivation.
She described having projects to focus on as “a real incentive to keep going in every way possible”.
There is one area of performance she has decided to leave behind, however.
Amanda joked that she no longer intends to do pantomime because she does not want to frighten young audiences by potentially being “hauled off stage on a stretcher”.
Despite reaching 91, the actress insists she has no special formula for longevity.
Instead, she considers herself fortunate.
Amanda said she feels “blessed” and joked that she has not “done much to deserve” reaching such an age.
Career Spans Coronation Street, Carry On and Bad Girls
Amanda’s career has stretched across decades of British television and film.
She played Alma Halliwell in Coronation Street on and off for around 20 years, becoming one of the soap’s most recognisable stars.
She later appeared as Bev Tull in ITV prison drama Bad Girls between 2003 and 2006.
Her extensive CV also includes the Carry On films, Casualty, Benidorm, Holby City and Celebrity Big Brother.
More recently, she appeared in Amandaland for a Comic Relief special.
Amanda is currently preparing for appearances at two book festivals as she promotes her memoir I’m Still Here: My 90 Years.
She has also become the face of a new Irn-Bru advertising campaign.
Amanda Previously Feared Being Open About Sexuality
The actress has also spoken candidly in recent years about her personal life.
Amanda, who has been married to Hilary Bonner since 2014, publicly came out as bisexual in her autobiography It’s Not A Rehearsal.
She later admitted that during her Coronation Street years she worried that being open about her sexuality could have damaged her career.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain in June, Amanda said she had felt uncomfortable about not being completely open publicly even though friends and family knew about her relationships.
When she eventually came out, she said the reaction was far kinder than she expected.
“Absolutely nothing” negative happened, she recalled, adding that she received “more of a hug than a stone thrown at me”.
At 91, Amanda may be dealing with mobility and eyesight problems, but she remains determined to keep working, writing and appearing in public — even if accepting a little help now and then might occasionally make life easier.
