Former Loose Women star Andrea McLean has revealed she 'would not be here' had her husband Nick and their family delayed seeking help by just 24 hours during a terrifying health crisis. The 54-year-old contracted Covid, which led to kidney failure, pneumonia and eventually sepsis, leaving her in a dire condition in hospital.
Speaking to Kate Thornton on White Wine Question Time, McLean recalled: 'Nick was told by the doctors - I was too out of it to know this - that if we had waited another 24 hours, I would not be here.' She added that she was glad she wasn't told at the time as she would have 'freaked out'.
McLean's health troubles came after she stepped down from Loose Women after 13 years to launch a wellness, retail and life-coaching enterprise called This Girl is on Fire. The business subsequently collapsed, leaving her in 'financial ruin' and forcing her to sell her home, engagement rings and cash out her pension to address debt.
She previously told the Mirror she felt 'excruciating shame' over the situation. In her book Shameless, McLean discussed the financial difficulties, and revealed that former Loose Women colleague Denise Welch was 'devastated' to learn of her struggles through the book rather than from McLean directly.
McLean said: 'I felt quite bad, actually, because I suppose I should have warned her. She was devastated [for me] and she was devastated as a friend that I hadn't reached out to her. But I was just trying to fix a problem.'
Now on the road to recovery, McLean said she was 'almost too scared to hope' things would get better, but added: 'I'm there now.'
