Linda Robson makes emotional return to 'Loose Women' after 'meltdown'

Linda Robson has opened up about her battle with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), depression and anxiety, saying she had a ”meltdown” that saw her taking four baths a day and turning to alcohol to medicate herself.

The Birds Of A Feather star spoke out as she returned to daytime show Loose Women for the first time in over a year.

She said things had got so bad that last year police were called to her home after her family locked her in because of her drinking.

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Talking about taking time out from the ITV show, the 61-year-old said: “I was having a meltdown.

“I came off the wine [as part of a diet]. I used to take a tablet to help me sleep every night and when I came off the wine, I upped the tablet and then I got concerned about taking the tablet, so I went to see somebody about it and they gave me a tablet.”

“I had a really, really bad reaction to it,” she added.

“I had a proper meltdown.

“I had really bad anxiety, really bad depression and my OCD kicked into overdrive. I was like… everything needed to be spotless.”

Robson said at one point she was having four baths a day and washing her bedding every day.

She explained: “I was waking up every day and thinking, I’m not going to make it through the day, how am I going to make it through the day?

“The medication was making me hyper. Instead of it calming me down.

“Then I started drinking again, and not wine, 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.”

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Robson said booze was never the problem, she just turned to it because she couldn’t medicate herself.

The actress, who has not drunk alcohol for 11 months, went on: “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’.”

Talking about the police turning up to her house last year, she said: “Because I was drinking, they (the family) were locking me in so I couldn’t get out and then I was shouting through the door, ‘Someone let me out!’

“And then the police were called because they thought I’d been kidnapped.

“That was my family trying to keep me safe.”

The star said she is now on the road to recovery.

“It’s been a long, long time and touch wood I’m finally there,” she said.

Loose Women is on weekdays from 12.30pm on ITV.