Denise Welch thinks being a 'Loose Women' panellist "impacted" her acting.
Denise Welch
The 59-year-old actress, who starred as Natalie Horrocks in 'Coronation Street' for three years before quitting the ITV soap when she fell pregnant, had a brief stint on the ITV daytime panel show in 2002 before a longer residency on the panel between 2003 and 2013.
But the brunette beauty has admitted that she has worked hard to shake off the reality persona in order to pursue her acting career - for which she has just landed a role in West End show 'The Wind In The Willows' playing the role of Mrs. Otter.
In an interview with new! magazine, Denise confirmed, without hesitation, that "no" she's not planning on returning to 'Loose Women' or any reality TV shows.
She added: "I've fought hard to remind people that I'm an award-winning actress. Being on daytime TV impacted on my acting."
Denise won two TV Quick awards for her role in BBC drama 'Waterloo Road' in 2009 and 2010 and after that she went on to star in 'Benidorm', 'Casualty', and 'EastEnders'.
She starred on reality shows 'Celebrity Big Brother' in 2012, when she was crowned winner, and 'Dancing on Ice' the year before but since then she's worked hard to focus on being taken seriously again as an actress - having landed a role in upcoming show 'Finding Fatimah' where she plays a character called Valerie.
But despite parting ways with the 'Loose Women' ladies, she still keeps in touch via their WhatsApp group.
She said: "We are still very close. I love them so much. We are in touch on a regular basis."
And although she has shunned a permanent role on the panel, she teased that she would like to return as a guest.
Denise added: "We've all moved on, so at the moment it's not something I'd do, but hopefully they'll ask me to talk about 'The Wind In The Willows' as a guest."
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