Loose Women star Nadia Sawalha has opened up about her health and her ongoing battle with crippling anxiety in a YouTube vlog, revealing how her constant fear of illness has taken a toll on her daily life and even her children.
At 60, the actress and presenter described her anxiety as a “horrendous” force that repeatedly steals the joy out of her day.
Nadia admitted she’s plagued by fears that she may be developing serious diseases, sometimes cycling through worries as often as 20 to 35 times a day.
Nadia Sawalha opens up about health condition
“I’m always worrying that I’ve got some new and dreadful disease,” she confessed. “I go from one dish to another, and the dishes I choose to nibble on the most is dementia. It’s horrendous. Another one breast cancer, another one bowel cancer.”
Nadia said her constant exposure to health warnings and awareness articles only adds fuel to the fire.
“Awareness is good. But I think I’m too aware. There are so often articles ‘don’t miss the early bloody signs’. Everything seems an early sign.”
Even rare conditions aren’t spared from her mind. She spoke about fearing Weil’s disease, a rare bacterial infection spread by rats.
“I never swim in fresh water where there’s rats. But I can literally convince myself it’s something I have,” she said.
Her anxiety doesn’t stay contained; it creeps into moments with her family.
“It steals the joy of life. I could be having a good time with family, and then I’m like, ‘I’m going to have that illness soon, and I won’t be here’. I can’t discuss it with my kids because they get mad. They’re terrified.”
She also admitted being unnerved by everyday worries, like asbestos in the garden, after her husband Mark disposed of some.
“Another thing I get scared of is asbestos. I had a bit of it in the garden, Mark picked it up and put in the bin and I keep thinking he had a bit on him.”
Loose Women cuts
Nadia’s vlog followed another emotional video, in which she broke down over shifts within Loose Women.
The long-standing ITV show, where she has been a panellist since its debut in 1999, is facing drastic production cuts, reducing its episodes and forcing hundreds of staff into redundancy.
As one of the show’s highest-profile faces, Nadia confessed she feels deeply protective of her colleagues.
“To all my friends and colleagues behind the scenes who have just got a huge shock out of the blue, I’m so sorry. A lot of my friends and colleagues have been there for decades. I cannot tell you how upsetting it was to see people walking around numb with shock and fear.”
Her own job security is also uncertain, since the show’s presenters are self-employed.
“I could be let go tomorrow,” she acknowledged. “You don’t know because we’re not employees. Every contract is a new contract.”
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