Our Anxious Minds Coro Stars' Brave Bond

Why They’re Speaking Up About Mental Health Issues.

- Judy Kean

They seem to have the world at their feet. They’ve all appeared in the world’s longest-running television soap and earned a good living from it.

But behind the scenes, a number of current and former stars of Coronation Street are living with often crippling anxiety. Several have been speaking out about it, in a bid to show that mental health issues can affect anyone and to try to remove some of the stigma surrounding the illnesses.

SAMIA LONGCHAMBON

She plays hairdresser Maria Connor and is the latest Coro cast member to open up about her struggles, revealing she is so sensitive that her anxiety can sometimes be triggered by TV ads.

“I can’t even watch a charity advert for cancer or something,” says Samia (36). “I have to turn the channel over. I am hypersensitive. It’s like a daily battle against yourself.”

The mum-of-two says she has battled anxiety since she was 11, “and possibly before that, but that was the first time I saw my doctor about my inability to get a deep breath.

“It is something that comes and goes, but when it’s there, it’s awful and all-consuming.”

Her anxiety starts with “a sense of dread that something bad is about to happen. Recently it’s been like a health anxiety about everything.”

She finds it hard to breathe when she has panic attacks and, in severe cases, it feels as though her heart is going to explode, she tells.

Her husband Sylvain (38), a professional skater who she met when they were partners on the reality show Dancing on Ice, is able to help her calm down.