Gavin and Stacey star, Sheridan Smith, has spoken candidly about her ‘meltdown’ in 2016 when she was forced to withdraw from the West End production of Funny Girl after being admitted to hospital
Award-winning actress, Sheridan Smith, has heartbreakingly admitted she felt “ashamed” after suffering a public breakdown in 2016.
In an interview with The Times, the Gavin and Stacey star, 44, has shared how she had a “meltdown” following two family bereavements. Explaining that she was “double grieving” at the time, Sheridan had just lost her father to cancer after her brother, Julian, died from the disease, aged 18. Reflecting on that harrowing time, Sheridan toldthe publication she didn’t want the world to know what she was going through. She said: “I didn’t ever want it to get out so publicly. You’re embarrassed. I felt ashamed, and I still sometimes feel it, like, ‘Oh, I wish that part of my life hadn’t happened.’”
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The mum-of-one is one of the country’s leading talents with a whole host of big name productions under her belt. However, nine years ago, Sheridan was forced to withdraw from Funny Girl in the West End – in which she starred in the leading role – after audience members claimed she was slurring her lines.
In 2016, while starring in the lead role for Funny Girl, Sheridan was drinking heavily and had become addicted to anti-anxiety medication. She was taken to hospital after having a seizure before taking an extended absence from the spotlight as her fans expressed their concern – and the rumour mill started to churn.On the night of the BAFTAs, host, Graham Norton, made a joke aimed at Sheridan’s drinking — “a few glasses of technical difficulties, as it’s known in theatrical circles” – after she missed three of the theatre shows in a row.
The much-loved star, who is currently starring in Alan Ayckbourn’s Woman In Mind in the West End, got a number of tattoos during her ‘meltdown’ and admitted that she didn’t think she would work again.
Thinking it wouldn’t matter if make-up artists couldn’t cover them up as she was ‘probably not going to work again’, she reveals one of her tattoos says: ‘Daddy’s little girl’, another ‘C’est la vie’ – while a third declares: ‘Peace is my priority’.
Pointing out how perfect Sheridan is for the role of Susan, whose fractured reality is explored in Woman In Mind, director Michael Longhurst says: “She’s sort of translucent in her feeling. I think it’s really brave, but also really profound, because it is a reclaim.
“It’s using those experiences to show how grief or conditions at a certain moment in time create a storm for a period that we need to be good at as a society in catching and helping, not attaching stigma to.”
He also points out that the cast have access to Applause for Thought, a company that provides mental health support for actors and strategies for coping with the pressure of performing eight shows a week.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t available to Sheridan nine years ago.
*If you have been affected by this story, you can speak to a trained advisor from Mind mental health charity on 0300 123 3393 or email info@mind.org.uk
Source: Mirror
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