Coronation Street’s Beverley Callard "never" thought she’d suffer with depression.
The 60-year-old actress – who is best known for playing doctors’ surgery receptionist Liz McDonald in the long-running soap – was signed off work last year when she sunk into a dark place after her medication that she’d been taking for years to control her emotional state was stopped without warning and, although she insists she’s now back to "normal", she never expected to suffer with the condition because she’s such a "strong" woman.
Speaking to Yours magazine, she said: "I’m really well, and feel like I’m back to normal. I have to be sensible – I’m a workaholic and have to try to relax, which I don’t find easy.
"Overcoming clinical depression is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I never thought it would happen to me. I’m a strong female, very feisty. But I think depression has a tendency to affect strong people, as we keep going no matter what. We take everything on and I’m a perfectionist – I learn my lines way too early. I’m also a people pleaser.
"I put a lot of pressure on myself. It helps that I teach fitness classes twice a week, and an added benefit is the weight I’ve put on due to medication is slowly shifting."
Beverley has battled with depression for the majority of her life but, following her crippling breakdown, her new psychiatrist is convinced she also has bipolar.
She said recently: "My psychiatrist at present, he is convinced that I am bipolar too. He is convinced of it. The way he explained it to me is that I don’t get these amazing highs or hallucinations. But I get the tremendous lows. I don’t get the good bits I get the bad bits. But now I am much more even and relaxed."
Beverley Callard didn’t think she’d suffer with depression
