Beverley Callard collapsed on the set of 'Coronation Street' last year.
Beverley Callard
The 60-year-old actress - who is known for playing Liz McDonald in the long-running soap - was signed off work at the beginning of 2016 after she sunk into deep depression but, although she knew there was a problem long before she sought help, it was an episode while she was filming that prompted her to seek professional advice.
Speaking on 'This Morning' on Thursday (10.08.17), she said: "I pushed myself too far rather than going to the GP immediately.
"I knew I wasn't myself but, over 18 months it was slowly getting worse and then I collapsed at work. I'd done every scene all day and then collapsed when I finished."
The blonde star's breakdown also lead to her pulling out of two jobs and she has admitted that has now wreaked havoc for her future because they'll never employ her.
She explained: "Those companies will now never employ me. There's a tendency to think you're flaky and unreliable, but it's actually the opposite. People who are ill, we're people-pleasers, and actually you put yourself under such pressure you let yourself down. Someone once said it's just like having a broken leg, in that you can make it better once you get the right treatment. But the difference is with mental illness or clinical depression that each treatment is individual."
Beverley has battled with depression for the majority of her life but, following her crippling breakdown, her new psychiatrist is convinced she also has bipolar.
She said recently: "My psychiatrist at present, he is convinced that I am bipolar too. He is convinced of it. The way he explained it to me is that I don't get these amazing highs or hallucinations. But I get the tremendous lows. I don't get the good bits I get the bad bits. But now I am much more even and relaxed."
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