Coleen Nolan says her 50s have been the "toughest years" of her life.
The ‘Loose Women’ panellist has suffered a number of setbacks during her the last decade, including the sad death of sister Bernie in 2013 and getting divorced from second husband Ray Fensome last year, whilst she has also been going through the menopause.
She told OK! magazine: "My fifties have been some of the toughest years of my life. I was fine when I turned 50, and I didn’t feel anxious about that milestone, but then I turned 51 and all of a sudden, everything just went ‘boom!’ in my face.
"I just felt really blue and I didn’t know what to do with myself."
The 54-year-old felt "redundant as a woman" after these events, which were made worse as she faced empty nest syndrome as eldest sons, Shane, 31, and Jake, 27, left home.
She said: "I felt redundant as a woman. Obviously I lost Bernie, which started all this off, then I hit the menopause, so my hormones have been all over the place.
"Also my marriage ended and my kids are growing up, so for the last three years, I just felt like ‘Oh, I am done then.’ I felt like it was nature’s way of telling me I was surplus to requirements now."
However, Coleen denied that she has had depression, insisting that she just felt "blue".
She explained: "I don’t want to say that because I have got friends who suffer with depression. I was blue.
"I sometimes had to force myself to get out of bed, because I thought, ‘What am I getting up for?’ I felt really aware that I’m getting older and because TV is very youth-oriented, I felt like, who is going to want me?"
Coleen Nolan says 50s have been ‘toughest years’ of her life
