Kym Marsh had a counsellor on set at all times throughout her harrowing ‘Coronation Street’ baby death storyline.
The 40-year-old actress – whose own son Archie was born 18 weeks prematurely and passed away shortly afterwards in 2009 – found it a "real help" having a professional guide her through the moments when she had a "wobble" when her on-screen alter-ego Michelle Connor gave birth to son Ruairi at just 23 weeks pregnant.
She said: "’Coronation Street’ insisted I had a counsellow throughout the baby-loss storyline.
"I saw him for a couple of weeks prior to it and then he was on set every day throughout filming,
"I found it a real help, although I think I was fairly strong throughout the whole thing.
"There were a couple of moments when I had a bit of a wobble, but that was understandable in the circumstances.
"He did grounding exercises with me, so he would bring me back to the here and now and take me out of the situation I’d just put myself back into.
"I also had the support of my fellow cast members and crew and a great support network at home."
Although the subject matter was very close to home, it was important to Kym – who is dating fitness trainer Matt Baker and has children David, 21, Emilie, 19, and Polly, six, from past relationships – to take on the storyline in order to "honour" Archie and make the subject less taboo.
She told Woman magazine: "My reasons for doing the storyline were to raise awareness and also to honour y son Archie. I was able to give a lot of input into the storyline and I spoke at length with the producer about my own experience.I was told right at the start that this was not something I had to do.
"I talked to my mum, who was very helpful, and she said, ‘What’s your instinct?’ and my instinct was to do it.
"It is real life, it does happen to a lot of people and I like to get people to talk about it, because it is quite a taboo subject – people feel uncomfortable discussing it. So for me, it’s all about that."
Kym Marsh had counsellor for Corrie baby death storyline
