Sheridan Smith has revealed she was rushed to hospital and had five seizures after she stopped taking the anti-anxiety medication she had become addicted to.
The actress has bounced back to become a mum and has filmed an ITV documentary on mental health struggles to help other women.
Gavin and Stacey actress Sheridan, 39, was nominated for The C Word TV movie at the 2016 BAFTAs and “went off the deep end” after host Graham Norton cracked a joke about her pulling out of West End show Funny Girl.
She says in Sheridan Smith: Becoming Mum that “Graham made a joke basically at my expense about me being a drunk”.
Sheridan Smith has bared her soul as she opens up about her battle with prescription pills
“I was so humiliated. What people didn’t know was that I had become addicted to anti-anxiety tablets. That night I took myself off to a hotel, in my crazy mind I thought I don’t want to be in rehab I will do it myself. So I went there and just stopped my tablets,” she added.
“Weirdly, my friend had rung me and she came to the hotel. It’s a miracle that she did now like someone was looking out for me because what I didn’t realise is if you stop that medication, stop these tablets abruptly, you seizure.
“To cut a long story short, I seized five times, I got rushed to A&E and she [the friend] was the one who got me breathing again.”
The Cilla actress admitted she stopped breathing during her addiction battle
In an upcoming documentary, focusing on her journey to parenthood, Sheridan speaks candidly about becoming a first time mum with fiancé Jamie Horn and her desire to have a second child.
While cradling her son, Billy, born in May 2020, she said: “This little miracle, I have never felt love like it. He completes me and I want to start it all over again. I never thought that would be me or my life but I can’t wait to get a sibling for him now.”
She went on to say that motherhood is the “best feeling in the world”.
The actress welcomed her first son in May 2020
“Everyone said motherhood will change your life but I guess I just hadn’t thought about it until it happened and then when I saw him. I mean there are no words that could explain that bond, that connection.
“Just recently he’s started smiling and Jamie and I were saying – because my son came early and I ended up having an emergency caesarean – that the day he smiled at me was more amazing and emotional even than the day he was born, because you suddenly think, ‘Oh my God – you love me back!’
“Suddenly, all those sleepless nights and all that worry goes out the window.
Jamie and Sheridan met on Tinder and have been head over heels ever since
“You look in those little eyes and the love you feel… It’s like a connection I’ve never felt and thank God I’ve done it. I mean, I’ve left it later in life but I think it’s probably the right thing and I wasn’t ready before – before I met Jamie.
“And now I’ve got this little family and I just feel, like contentment, a calm. Maybe I was looking for something in the wrong places and now I feel I’ve found it in this little boy when I look in his eyes, it’s just incredible.
“I feel like I’ve come out the other side and been given a great opportunity and having Billy – I can’t explain the feeling of contentment in myself that I’ve never felt before. Now I’ve got him, it’s like he’s my world.
Sheridan recently enjoyed a trip to Manchester with Jamie as she filmed a new tv show (Image: SplashNews.com)
“And you stop being so selfish and maybe worrying about things that don’t mean that much. It’s all about him now.”
The upcoming documentary discusses how Sheridan and Jamie met on dating app Tinder in 2018 – he admits that it was “love at first sight”.
Jamie said: “When I met Sheridan I didn’t know anything about mental health, learning how to cope and deal with that and understand it, was a difficult time. People don’t understand how far she’s come now. Honestly, it makes me so happy. It’s like I’ve got my best mate back.”
Sheridan Smith: Becoming Mum airs on ITV next Tuesday at 9pm.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
