'I CAN'T DO THIS'

Coleen Nolan on her career strugeles and why she feels guilty

Having been in the public eye since she was a child, Coleen Nolan is well aware of the pros and cons of being a star. And while there’s no denying that there are many plus sides to fame – with Coleen saying, ‘In the grand scheme of things it’s bloody brilliant’ – she’s also now opened up about the downsides of her decades-long career.

Revealing how her childhood was affected by being part of The Nolans at such a young age, Coleen, 59, said, ‘When I was nine or 10, there were times that I didn’t want to go [on tour]. I was obsessed with horses so I wanted to go and be at the stables with all my friends, mucking out. I remember at seven I cried because all my friends were joining the Brownies but we had to go to Scotland to perform. I cried because I really wanted to join the Brownies and I couldn’t.’

Feeling the pressure

Reflecting on her younger years, Coleen added, ‘I feel really guilty saying I lost out on a childhood because, equally, when some of my friends were 15 and 16 they’d never left Blackpool and I was going to Japan, Australia, Singapore, travelling around. But did I miss out on a normal childhood? Yeah.’ And this is something she’s taken into her parenting, as she confessed, ‘I think it changed me when I became a parent because I was determined

that my kids were going to go to school. I hardly went to school because we were always working, we’d get in at four in the morning.’