Yahoo News Linda Robson admits she'd ask strangers to buy her booze amid alcoholism struggle
The Loose Women panellist entered rehab three times while battling booze, but has now been sober for three years
Loose Women star Linda Robson has confessed she'd ask strangers to buy her bottles of vodka when she was at the peak of her struggles with alcohol.
The 64-year-old actor has now been sober for three years, but previously struggled with alcohol to the extent that she ended up in rehab three times.
Read more: Linda Robson says she had a breakdown on Loose Women trip
She told Woman's Own magazine — reported via the Mirror — that her determination to keep her drinking a secret led to her approaching people at random.
"I'd find money and say 'excuse me I've lost my key and I can't get out, would you be able to go and get me a little bottle of vodka from around the corner?'," Robson said.
But it turned out that this habit actually ended up being part of what helped her to ditch the drinking for good.
She said: "A couple of people did [get her alcohol] but one day I asked a man to do it and he turned out to be from an alcohol crisis place that my family had called to come and help me."
Read more: Linda Robson reveals she forgot to pick grandchildren up from school
Robson said that her drinking became a problem when she suffered from depression in 2018 and was prescribed medication that made her feel worse.
She confessed that her drinking struggles were so bad at their worst that she "completely ruined my family’s lives" with her actions.
Robson's mental health struggles led to her being absent from Loose Women between 2018 and 2020, before she made an emotional return to the show.
"I was drinking anything just to black out because I just didn’t want to be to facing the day... I didn’t want to face getting through the day," she said.
Read more: Linda Robson offers home to migrant family
Robson added: "I had never drunk a spirit in my life. I would’ve drunk anything, because I was feeling: ‘I can’t get through the day’."
The Birds of a Feather star later reflected on that Loose Women return interview, describing it as “one of the scariest things I’ve ever had to do”.
Watch: Linda Robson denies falling out with Pauline Quirke
