Denise Welch has vowed to keep sharing bikini photos when she’s 90.
The 60-year-old actress is proud of her figure and while she gets the occasional unkind comment about her swimsuit selfies, she doesn’t get upset by them.
She said: "I’ll be still posting bikini pictures when I’m 70 – no, make that 90.
"The reason I put out the bikini pictures is not to say, ‘Look at me’ – it’s to say, ‘Don’t tell me I can’t wear a bikini.’
"I get an amazing response from women.
"There’s the odd body-shamer saying horrible things, but I just block them or kill them with kindness.
"I’ve got a tummy, a bum and cellulite but I don’t think I look bad for an old bird."
Denise – who has sons Matt, 29, and Louis, 17, with ex-husband Tim Healy – has openly spoken about her struggles with depression and she thinks her condition will never go away, though she’s learned to manage it better, especially as she no longer drinks alcohol.
She said: "I’ll live with mental illness until the day I die. Even when I’m at my happiest, my depression comes from nowhere.
"The last bout I had was on holiday in January when I was sitting on a beach in Grenada.
"I get a tingling in my palms and a metallic taste in my mouth and I know it’s on its way. The depression can descend within minutes and is very hard to explain – it’s like a shift in the atmosphere.
"Now I’m no longer self-medicating with alcohol or food, the episodes are shorter-lived."
The former ‘Loose Women’ panellist – who is married to artist Lincoln Townley – is proud of giving up alcohol six years ago because it’s made family life so much easier.
She added to Closer magazine: "If you have addiction issues, everyone you love lives in constant fear.
"Now that is taken away from them so I feel I’ve set everyone free. They can get on with their lives and don’t have to worry about their mum."
Denise Welch’s 90-year-old bikini photo vow
