Celebrity Interview - Denise Welch
On The Street To Redemption
Denise Welch On The Street To Redemption
DENISE WELCH SPEAKS EXCLUSIVELY TO ANNABEL MILNES-SMITH ABOUT HER ASTOUNDING RECOVERY FROM DEPRESSION, ALCOHOLISM AND DRUG ADDICTION
Actress Denise Welch will always remain, despite having had numerous other television and theatre roles, the much-loved and sometimes-revered Coronation Street landlady Natalie Barnes.
I met Denise many years ago on the Jerry Springer show, where the late Paula Yates staggered onto stage appearing completely stoned, and Caroline Aherne was in the audience looking, shall we say, somewhat refreshed. Having been with Denise most of the evening - during which she was the life and soul of the party, and not in the least bit inebriated - I was amazed that she would later battle with the same demons.
I caught up with Denise in the beautiful grounds of Mills and Mills' Marbella clinic, where she was helping her great friend Eileen (press and public relations consultant). Undoubtedly, despite her recent battles, she looked 10 years younger.
Denise was in Coronation Street from 1997 to 2000. During that time, she became a household name not only throughout the United Kingdom but worldwide.
Over the years, despite her fame and fortune, she has battled with clinical depression and, in the past two years, with alcoholism and drug abuse, most of which she has now courageously kicked.
So why was it that drink took over her life and led her into a spiral of depression and drug-taking?
"I've always enjoyed a drink, and most of the people I love enjoy a drink. Most people think that when you have a problem with alcohol, the first thing you do in the morning is reach for the bottle. However, I am quite simply a binge drinker and have a well-publicised battle with clinical depression, together with having a full-blown nervous breakdown the Christmas before last."
And what was the cause of her breakdown?
"It was a build up of things. I was doing a series called Down to Earth. Ricky Tomlinson and I took over the leads. I hadn't estimated just how much work that was going to be. I basically had been away from home for seven months and I was seeing my kids less than 24 hours on a Sunday, and the stress of that was building up and up. I felt I was losing the handle on my life. It was painful just going home to see them, and then being taken away in a car at five o'clock in the afternoon. I could feel the signs building up. Before the season was commissioned, you know they will ask you to do a pantomime in January, so I had committed myself to headlining this. I went headlong into the panto, and was drinking far too much. It was really that.
"It was actually ridiculous what eventually tipped me over the edge. I was very honoured to win the Manchester Evening News Award for a play I did at the Royal Exchange. It was the day after that when I had a panic attack. I did not think the pantomime was ready and I was above the title; we were very under-rehearsed, and I just thought, "Oh my God, I have just won this award and people are going to have these expectations about me, and I am not going to be able to come up with the goods." It was a downhill slope from there. I was vomiting, not eating and crippled by depression.
"Eventually, after a fortnight I was losing the plot. My dresser called Tim and said, "Take her home." Tim arrived and told the producers, "You will not be seeing her again." It is the first time in 25 years I have ever had to pull out of anything."
Surprisingly, as I since found out, most of the newspapers were very supportive of Denise, but one local newspaper said something along the lines of, "Snow White managed to battle on with a broken wrist, but Denise pulled out because of exhaustion."
Following that Denise did not really get better. She was drinking on top of the anti-depressants. It was not until she went away to Turkey in July the following year, with the boys and her family, that it all came to a head.
"When I was there I realised that I was drinking too much and that, in turn, was bringing on the depression. I thought enough was enough. I was also having black-outs. I made the decision then and there, and on arrival back in the United Kingdom started going to AA.
"Having the courage to stop is one of things I have been most proud of in myself. I can't say I do not miss it. I miss that feeling. I cannot do parties any longer; they bore me. It has changed me in that I wake up looking forward to the day, rather than wishing the day away."
Denise has also admitted to cocaine abuse, which, of course, comes hand in hand with drinking. "I sort of did. I heard Davina McCall speaking recently, and she said that the reason why she stays off drink is because it lowers her resistance to that. There is not a day since I stopped drinking that I have had any desire for that. I couldn't trust myself with it. When I was really depressed it was a quick fix for feeling better; we all know what a rocky road that is. Now I love being around my friends that drink, but cannot bear being around people taking cocaine. They make no sense. I realise what I was like on it, and I can smell it on people now."
One habit she still has is that of "the evil weed": smoking. However, her son Louis has taken up the challenge. He has promised to give up his blankie if his mother gives up her habit!
"I gave up drinking 11 months ago and as a result of that my smoking has reduced dramatically. I am not going to worry about having the odd one at this time. Trying to diet, not smoke and not drink is a nightmare. I am so proud of myself for not drinking."
Of course, Denise initially made her name playing Natalie Barnes, landlady in Coronation Street, and since that time, despite her tumultuous personal problems, she has continued to grace our screens.
Being a Coronation Street fan myself, I was intrigued to find out if she had managed to shake off her former soap-star image and be recognised in her own right. After all, among her many television appearances she has starred as the guest lead in Where the Heart Is as Linda, and the lead in Waterloo Road. Currently Denise appears on the panel of the live talk show Loose Women, which is continuing to be a bit hit with television viewers.
"I do not really think I have been typecast as such, as I have been lucky enough to work pretty consistently since I left the Street. I have spoken to many other ex-soap people, such as former Eastender Michelle Collins and Coronation Street star Sarah Lancashire, and people still say, 'Oh, you know it's her off Corrie.' What they do say more, and I think it's because of my role in Loose Women, its Denise rather than Natalie, because my own has been out in the public rather than just a character name. However, when I was constantly referred to as Natalie, I just got so used to it. It just seems to be the power of soap, that people will always remember you most for that, even though it is 20 years on."
She continues in an amusing tone: "It's funny because you can say to people, 'Well, actually I am doing a film with Julia Roberts and then I am moving on to a film with Al Pacino', and they will still go, 'But you can always go back: they didn't kill you off." They just don't want you to have ever left. It was the pinnacle as far as they were concerned, especially as the landlady. My aunties nearly had heart failure when I told them I was leaving, because to them there was no greater achievement in the acting profession than being the landlady of The Rover's Return. There was nowhere to go, so why could I possibly want to leave!"
So what exactly was the reason she left, especially with the security and stability that the job afforded her?
"I went into Coronation Street initially for three months and I stayed four years, and the problem with being behind the bar is that you were often three days there without a line of dialogue. Although the media made me out to be a pivotal role, unless there were storylines I felt like a very well-paid extra for most of the time. Having said that, I loved my time at Corrie, but as an actress I have always been motivated by change, and I thought four years was long enough. After I made the decision to leave, I then found out that I was pregnant with Louis, completely unexpected at 42 as you can imagine."
Louis was a complete bolt out of the blue. Denise went with her present husband, Auf Wiedersehan Pet actor Tim Healy, to Amsterdam and returned with, at that stage, a little extra baggage!
Denise had known Tim for 10 years before they got together. "We did not like each other very much when we first met. He thought that I was a blond flirty woman with a drink and a cigarette always in my hand, which he still maintains is true to this day, except that now the drinking has gone. I just thought he was grumpy and guarded. However, when I came out of my marriage from David Easter because of his infidelity, and he had also just finished a long relationship, we met at a dinner party with Robson Greene, where inadvertently I had been set up with Tim. He drove me home that night and that, as they say in the trade, was that."
Eighteen years on, they are still in happily married bliss, despite one rather monumental hiccup on Denise's part during their marriage. I always thought it seemed strange that, despite Denise leaving David for his philandering, she would in turn embark on an affair with Steve Murray during her second marriage.
"Tim and I were going through a very bad patch, and it was the result of that situation and we have both taken responsibility for it, and we have now moved on."
So what of other members of Denise's family? Her father has quite an eye-opening sideline...
"My father for years has performed a drag act. When he was young he was very pretty and he started doing it for pals at parties and it sort of started from there. He fashions himself as Raquel. He was then placed second in the Evening Chronicle Pub Entertainment of the Year, and gained a somewhat semi-celebrity status. Raquel now does not make many appearances, with one or two exceptions. We did go to my first ever boyfriend's 50th recently, and suddenly at midnight some awful sight in a green Lycra mini-skirt and fishnet tights appeared down the stairs. My sister and I cringed with embarrassment, especially sober seeing Raquel!"
Denise to date has continued to go from strength to strength. She participated in the Great Manchester run for charity, which was a huge achievement, as at the beginning of the year she could not even run for a bus. Denise is also a patron of a staggering 21 charities and she has recently bought herself a horse as a treat for stopping drinking.
Her marriage to Tim is now firmly back on track, and both their acting careers continue to go from strength to strength. Indeed Tim, in a twist of fate, is currently starring in Coronation Street. They would both now love to do a television project together.
Denise is working on another series of Waterloo Road and without a doubt, with her sheer determination to rid herself of her demons and her outstanding acting talent, together with her warm-hearted and caring personality, I feel sure that Denise will continue to be a household name. One day we may even see her starring in blockbusters with Hollywood greats Julia Roberts and Al Pacino!
