Denise Welch: Who is Matty Healy's mum and who are her famous friends?

Denise Welch has been trending on social media amid rumours her son Matty Healy is romancing Taylor Swift.

According to reports, The 1975’s Healy – who is Welch’s eldest son with her ex Tim Healy – is dating Swift and the relationship is said to be blossoming.

So far there’s no official word on the rumoured romance.

Read more: Denise Welch meets Taylor Swift as 'love of huns apocalypse' pic sweeps social media

However, the gossip mill is in overdrive and Loose Women star Welch (as well as Healy and Swift) is the talk of Twitter.

But just who is the TV star and what is she best known for?

Rise to fame

Welch first became known as an actor, racking up stage roles after leaving school.

She made the leap to TV when she was in her early 20s, bagging her first screen part in children's television series Barriers.

In 1991 she landed a lead role in police procedural Spender, but it was being cast as Marsha Stubbs in the drama Soldier Soldier two years later than really made her a big name.

Other notable roles include Steph Haydock in Waterloo Road, Corrie’s Natalie Barnes and Trish Minniver in Hollyoaks, and since 2005 Welch is probably best known for sharing her thoughts on everything from COVID to mental health as a panellist on Loose Women.

Reality TV

Welch has also dabbled in reality TV and in 2012 she was a housemate on Celebrity Big Brother.

She won the show after entertaining viewers with bust-ups with other contestants but has shared that it was actually a bad time in her life and that her win was a “hollow victory”.

“The only thing I regret if I had my time again, I regret doing Big Brother,” she said on Loose Women.

“I won it but it was a hollow victory because it was such a really desperately miserable unhappy time for me, and I was sort of, felt manipulated into making a decision which was quite destructive for me.”

Alcohol struggles

Welch, who has been married to current husband Lincoln Townley since 2013, has been open about her struggle with alcohol and has said it ruined her life for years.

However, the star managed to get sober, recently sharing that she did it after realising how much she was affecting other people’s lives.

Celebrating 11 years of sobriety, she posted a snap from her drinking days on Instagram and one of her looking happy and healthy now, telling fans: “Giving up my disastrous relationship with alcohol changed my life, my husband’s life and my children’s lives.

“Plus the lives of all who love me.

“It wasn’t easy. Addiction is a cruel and frightening illness.”

Depression

Welch has also been open about dealing with mental health struggles.

She has become something of an advocate for those struggling with mental illness and once said she wished everyone could temporarily experience clinical depression in order to really understand how it could be.

Speaking on Yahoo’s White Wine Question Time podcast, she said: “I always say – and it may sound cruel or selfish – but I’d like everyone in the world to have clinical depression for 15 seconds and then for it to go and never return so that they’d see difference with just being ‘Oh, I’m depressed’ or 'I’m fed up’, you know.”

Famous friends

Swift certainly wouldn’t be the first A-lister in Welch’s circle.

In March, the presenter gave fans on social media a peek at the fun as she helped Sir Michael Caine celebrate his 90th birthday.

The video clip showed Welch telling a seriously cheeky joke at the bash as the guests roared with laughter.

Read more: Taylor Swift stuns fans as she joins The 1975 on stage in London

Even more surprisingly, as Welch panned around to show who she was dining with, Tom Cruise could be seen in the background chuckling at her speech.

Watch: Denise Welch met her younger second husband while crashing Tinie Tempah's birthday party