Coleen Nolan has opened up about a hidden family struggle on Friday’s Good Morning Britain
Coleen Nolan has revealed she spent ‘years crying’ and feeling like a ‘terrible mother’ over a hidden family struggle.
Over the summer, Coleen, 60, disclosed that her son, Shane, 37, had been fighting a secret battle with drugs which saw him ‘hit rock bottom’ and wreck his marriage to his beauty queen ex-wife, Maddie Wahdan.
Coleen’s son, Shane, whom she shares with ex-husband Shane Richie, separated from his beauty queen wife in December 2023 amid claims he had been unfaithful – just a year after they had tied the knot.
Over the summer, Shane, alongside his mother Coleen, spoke candidly about his struggle with drug addiction, which resulted in him being admitted to rehab as his family feared for his life.
Shane is now in a new relationship with girlfriend Kimberly Sallis, whom he has credited for helping him through the drug addiction, and in November they welcomed their first child together, a baby boy called Cruz-Carter, reports Wales Online.
Speaking about her son’s past struggle on Friday’s Good Morning Britain, Coleen confessed: “I felt like a terrible mother. I thought it was my fault.”
Coleen said of her son speaking out: “It was totally Shane’s decision. It would never have been me forcing him in to talk about it. He thought it was important to talk about and especially when it was during Men’s Mental Health month and all of that.
“When he did it, we were both nervous. I was quite emotional because it’s really hard as a parent or a relative to watch an addict. I mean, it was years of me crying because I couldn’t do anything. I’m his mum and I couldn’t do anything.”
Coleen went on: “People were like, ‘Well, you know, you’re going to have to kick him out. You’re going to have to do that.’ and I went ‘He’s my child!’
“I kept making excuses for him, ‘well, I think he did this… no, no, it’s just because he’s tired, you know.’ And then something major happened where he ended up with stitches in his head and all of that. I think that was a massive wake up call.
“Talking about it afterwards, he said to me, ‘Mum, I feel like a whole weight has been lifted off my shoulders.'” Coleen revealed it was equally beneficial for Shane to understand the impact his struggle had on her.
The Loose Women panellist emotionally shared: “I felt like a terrible mother. I thought it was my fault. I’d done things wrong. I couldn’t help him and it was nothing to do with me. As an addict, the only person that could have helped him was himself, which he did.”
Good Morning Britain continues on weekdays at 6am on ITV and ITV X.