HELEN Flanagan has recently opened up about what it’s really like living with OCD.
The former Coronation Street actress and mum-of-three candidly opened up about her struggles with Pure O OCD.
While many people think of OCD as having a fear of germs and having to clean, Pure O OCD is a form marked by intrusive, unwanted and uncontrollable thoughts and obsessions.
The 34-year-old sat down with Bryony Gordon on her new podcast, The Life of Bryony to discuss how the disorder has affected her life.
Helen explained that she had been fearful to reveal her diagnosis for years, as she thought if she did, her kids would be taken from her.
Helen shares three children with footballer Scott Sinclair- daughters Matilda, 9, and Delilah, 5, and son Charlie, 3.
She said it started when she was around 10, the same time she started working on Coronation Street, with intrusive thoughts, but it took a dive after giving birth to her eldest child.
“It was the worst time of my life, because you feel, don’t you, like you’re losing your mind,” Helen explained.
“You feel like you can’t talk to anyone, like I couldn’t talk to my boyfriend at the time, Scott, about it and I had that thing as well when you have really bad Pure O OCD, intrusive thoughts, you feel like I can’t tell anyone this cause I could have my babies taken off me,” she said.
Helen revealed her mum was amazing as she navigated her mental health, but praised Bryony for her book Mad Girl where she discusses her own battle with OCD for making Helen have the courage to speak out about her own struggles.
Navigating being a mum is hard for anyone – but Helen revealed her OCD made it much worse for her relationship.
She revealed one night out after giving birth to her first child – and having an intrusive thought on cheating on her then-partner Scott.
Helen added: ” I remember I was wearing red lipstick and there was this guy and he had a red lipstick mark on his face and for some reason my OCD when I got home, told me I slept with him in the toilet and cheated on Scott.
“I didn’t even go near the guy, he just had a red lipstick mark on his face.
“The day after I’m thinking ‘OMG I’ve cheated on my boyfriend,’ I loved my boyfriend and I can’t exactly turn to Scott, I absolutely adore the father of my children, we were together a really long time.
“One of the problems with me and Scott was that he didn’t understand.”
HELEN Flanagan has revealed that she is in a new relationship.
While appearing on Celebs Go Dating, she confessed that she was already taken – here’s everything we know about her boyfriend Robbie Talbot.
Helen has opened up about her relationship with former footballer Robbie Talbot.
He is a decade older than the actress.
Robbie was born in Liverpool on October 31, 1979 which is how he earned his nickname Halloween Hitman in football.
He has played for a series of non-league teams such as Burton Albion, Burscough and Morcambe.
He then became a coach at Ashton in 2010.
Robbie is retired from football.
He left his role as Assistant Manager at Ashton due to family and work commitments in 2011.
It’s unknown what he has done for work since leaving football.
Helen admitted that she was dating Robbie while appearing on Celebs Go Dating.
In a first for the show, it has been revealed that her relationship had to be written into the series due to requirements that those taking part have to be single.
The pair went public at her birthday party on August 10, 2024.
Helen also struggled when she gave birth to their third child, Charlie, as she revealed she didn’t think he was hers for a while.
“After having Charlie I didn’t think he was my baby, because he was born with a lot of dark hair and next to me was an Asian couple, it makes me laugh now, but I thought the midwife swapped my baby because I was confused I had this baby with black hair,” she revealed.
“The midwife was lovely, it was just my OCD playing up.”
Helen who has previously opened up about her love life, has now found romance with ex-footballer Robbie Talbot.
She revealed that she loved her ex Scott, who she was with for 13 years, but the two together created a toxic environment.
Now she says, her mental health is in a much better place after being in a better romantic relationship.
“I’ll always have a lot of love for him, we’re good people, but together we’re just toxic,” Helen said.
Speaking of Robbie, Helen gushed at how funny and lovely he was after they met in a bar.
Now the pair have introduced each others kids to each other and are excited for what the future holds.
Recently the pair went to the Pride of Britain Awards where they couldn’t keep their hands off each other.
Robbie helped Helen into the taxi after their fun night out, and they laughed and joked as they went.
Once inside, they couldn’t keep their hands off each other.
Helen and Robbie gazed into each other’s eyes whileas they sat in the back of the cab, before the actress pulled Robbie towards her as they kissed.
In another shot, Robbie appeared to be whispering something into Helen’s ear.
And at another point, an animated Helen stuck her hand in Robbie’s face in a playful manner.
