Yahoo News Coronation Street's Samia Longchambon shares 'honest truth' of personal battle with 'painful' side effect
Coronation Street star Samia Longchambon has often been open about her anxiety struggles, even revealing how she was misdiagnosed as a child. The actress tells her social media followers if she is having a bad day or shares how she keeps zen such as doing some yoga in her dressing room.
But Samia, who is famed for playing Maria Windass in the ITV soap, wasn't always as in control of what was happened and on Loose Women in 2022, the Eccles-born star revealed that she found herself receiving an asthma diagnosis as a child when she was actually suffering from crippling anxiety.
"Everyone who knows me has always known I'm quite an anxious person," she said on the ITV show in August 2021. "I'm known for being a bit of a worrier and being really cautious with everything.
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"I've had anxiety since I was a child and when I was a child, my mum took me to the doctors and the doctor first diagnosed asthma because I couldn't get a deep breath. So they ended up giving me inhalers when I was about 11 thinking that it was asthma but it wasn't, it was anxiety."
In her latest update, Samia took to her Instagram Story and shared the personal side effect her own battle with her anxiety can have. She shared a picture of her nails with some appearing sore around her cuticles. "I always pick my fingers until they hurt when I'm overthinking," she explained.
The mum-of-two continued: "I do it without realising... When my gingers look like this I know I need to slow my thoughts down... #anxiety 'honesttruth #monkeymind." Samia, 41, also added a GIF which read: "Mental Health Matters," before adding: "Need to do my nails asap [as soon as possible]."
Samia first arrived on the cobbles as Maria Sutherland - now Windass - in 2000 after beating Girls Aloud's Kimberley Walsh and Hear'Say star Suzanne Shaw to land the role.
The character was first seen working in the kennels belonging to her father, Eric. Tyrone Dobbs and Jack Duckworth brought Tyrone's greyhound, Monica, in to look for a stud to mate with but Maria and Tyrone were immediately attracted to one another and the pair began a relationship.
Since then, there have been plenty of failed relationships for Maria, including with Tyrone, Jason Grimshaw, and Luke Britton. But there have also been heartbreaking scenes when she delivered a stillborn baby boy, the son of Liam Connor, and when Liam was later killed in a hit-and-run organised by Tony Gordon.
More recently, the sassy hairstylist turned eco-warrior became a Weatherfield councillor - which got her into some bother, including with an extremist gang who threatened the lives of people living on the street over her refugee help plans. It also led to Alya Nazir saving her life when teenager Blake went to attack her during an event organised to highlight the Weatherfield refugee drop in centre.
But heartbreakingly, Maria has also been faced with the fact her son, Liam Connor, is being badly bullied both at school and online by newcomer Mason Radcliffe and former friend Dylan Wilson, with the teen sinking into such despair he considered taking his own life.
And bullying is something Samia knows all too much about. The 41-year-old was asked if she'd done any research for the storyline to which she told the Manchester Evening News: "If I'm completely honest, I was bullied throughout my childhood at different times. I was bullied in primary school then I was bullied at high school as well so I can go off how it was for me.
"I think it's important to talk to people, to not bottle things up and as much as people are scared of being 'snitch', the bigger picture is you need tell an adult, you need to tell your friends, you just need to keep talking."
