Andrea McLean believes she suffered a breakdown because she is a "people-pleaser" who "holds everything in".
Andrea McLean
The 'Loose Women' panellist has opened up about being in a "dark place" towards the end of 2019, and admitted that part of the problem was that she always "tries too hard to do everything" and bottles up how she's really feeling.
She explained: "I didn't mean to talk it about on air. I had been off air for six weeks and then when I went back on it slipped out.
"I'm not ashamed of it and I've learnt so much.
"I think people were surprised as they think, 'She doesn't look like the type of person who has a breakdown.'
"But what does a person look like?
"It is someone who is a people-pleaser, someone who tries too hard to do everything and can't say 'no' and holds everything in. That's exactly what I am and that is why it happened."
The 50-year-old presenter has been made to feel "small" at various periods during her life, and she wants to encourage other women to live unapologetically and feel like they can achieve anything in life, so she has launched female-empowerment website This Girl Is On Fire.
She added to the Daily Mirror newspaper: "I've had to make myself small through a lot of my life and dim my lights.
"I don't want to do that any more. There have been experiences in my life of having to stay small.
"I was always made to feel I could do anything I wanted but always to a level.
"As long as everyone was happy with whatever you are doing, then you can do whatever you want.
"I'm a people-pleaser, and now I think: 'Why am I accepting that?'
"It's been bred into us from a young age, good girls stay quiet.
"Of course try hard at school but don't be too shiny, don't be too loud, don't take up too much space. I think we need to stop apologising for who we are.
"I want to help women to feel strong enough to stand up for themselves."
Andrea's husband, Nick Feeney - who she married in November 2017 - has been going to her therapy sessions, and she says it's been important for him to come along, because partners go through the trauma, too.
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