Helen Flanagan has shared details of her intense mental health challenges, including a long-term struggle with OCD that many fans likely never knew about.
Coronation Street Legacy and Potential Return
The actress gained fame portraying Rosie Webster on Coronation Street from 2000 to 2012, with a comeback in 2017. Her final appearance in Weatherfield came in 2018 before maternity leave for her second daughter, Delilah. Flanagan, who shares daughters Matilda and Delilah along with son Charlie with ex-fiancé Scott Sinclair, expressed enthusiasm for returning to the ITV soap.
During a recent appearance on Lorraine on February 9, she stated: “I would love to go back. I’m home now, because I used to travel so much with Scott’s job, but I’m very settled in the North.”
Promoting Her Tell-All Memoir
Flanagan discussed her debut book, Head and Heart: Break-ups, Breakdowns and Being Rosie, a candid memoir tracing her journey from childhood to the present. The 35-year-old emphasized its focus on mental health, saying: “I really wanted to write about my experiences with mental health. So I kind of wanted the book really to be more of a mental health book. It wasn’t kind of really supposed to be a memoir, but I kind of think when you talk about mental health, and you talk about your experiences, then you have to kind of paint the whole picture.”
Personal Battle with OCD
She described her OCD as “crippling,” noting it began in her youth. Flanagan recalled a turning point after giving birth to Matilda amid financial hardship: “I remember actually reading Bryony Gordon’s book, and I just went, ‘This is what it is. I’ve got OCD!’ That was such a huge comfort to me.”
While admitting she lacks all solutions, Flanagan hopes the book offers solace, particularly for those navigating heartbreak after her 2022 split from Sinclair. “It can be so painful when you go through such a bad breakup,” she said. “I hope my book is a comfort to other women who are going through the same.”
Upcoming Stage Role
Flanagan next takes the stage as Catherine in Shelagh Stephenson’s The Memory of Water at Bolton’s Octagon Theatre. The play follows three sisters reuniting at their family home after their mother’s death.
