Linda Robson Responds to Dating Rumors With Best Friend Pauline Quirke and Loose Women

Linda Robson must have been exhausted. Or rather, if the rumors on TV are to be believed, then she should be.

Because according to the buzz in her industry, not only is Linda estranged from her Birds of A Feather co-star and lifelong friend Pauline Quirke, but the entire cast of Loose Women is falling for each other.

It’s a terrible thing for a woman who has spent the past three years recovering from the effects of alcohol abuse and obsessive-compulsive disorder. It’s also kind of weird, since these are the people she trusts for helping her through that ordeal.

So maybe that’s why Linda was so quick to speak her mind on this issue….and some other while she was at it.

“People say Pauline and I failed,” said Linda, 63. “Obviously I couldn’t see her while locking the door but I’ve seen her since. She just doesn’t want to act anymore. She’s had enough – there’s still time.

“She’s focusing on her drama academy. She’s so hard-working, going to classes and all that.

“I see Lesley [Joseph] all the time because we won the Celebrity Trip last year. And while the door is locked, I’ll leave fun stuff on her doorstep, like Tena Lady and hair dye!

“But when I’m sick, both Pauline and Lesley call me, or a member of my family, every few days to see how I’m doing. They’re both a big support and really there for me. I.”

That should reassure fans of the sitcom, who have spent 30 years invested in the ups and downs of Pauline and the oppressed Essex wives of Pauline and Linda, Sharon and Tracey Theodopolopodous (plus the ups and downs). rather different bass of Lesley’s charming neighbor Dorien (Green).

But it was the Loose Women who really pitted each other quite late, with rumors of backstage brawls circulating on social media.

“It’s just because it’s a women’s show that people are always asking ‘Are we in?'” Linda said exasperatedly. “We started. They wouldn’t ask a man about a men’s gig, would they? We all see each other all the time.

“Janet Street Porter calls me every day when I’m on vacation. People can be a little scared of Janet – but she’s a real harasser, a truly lovely woman of concern.”

Linda is also close to co-star Brenda Edwards, whose son Jamal Edwards MBE died suddenly on February 20, from an undisclosed illness.

The 31-year-old music producer founded the pioneering music YouTube channel SB.TV and helped launch the careers of Ed Sheeran, Emeli Sande and Linda’s stepson, Louis Dunford, 30.

“My son wouldn’t be in the music industry if it weren’t for Jamal,” sighed Linda. “He guided him, brought him to The BRITs. He was the cutest little boy.

“I went to see Brenda. I don’t think she really knows what happened to her. They’re a really close-knit family. We just wanted her to know that we all love her and that we’re going to love her.” always by her side.”

Born and raised in London’s Islington, but fortunately Linda didn’t have to go through the same pain. In 2008, her 16-year-old son Louis famously left to hug his dying best friend Ben Kinsella, brother of EastEnders’ Brooke, after he was stabbed in an attack. gratuitously outside a party in north London. Linda’s husband Mark was on his way to pick them up.

It is thought that her anxiety on the 10th anniversary, combined with a bad reaction to prescribed antidepressants, were the last straws that led Linda to plunge into her drink. and the OCD “craze” in late 2018. Her OCD saw her take a bath four times and wash her bedding daily.

In early 2019, she drank a lot of alcohol just to stop it. Her family began locking her in a room to ensure her safety, and after police were called to her home, doctors eventually discovered a problem with her medication. By then, she needed three rehab trips and almost a year off Loose Women to recuperate.

Today, she proudly says she’s “absolutely fine,” but as OCD sufferers know, there’s no quick fix.

Even now, Linda must always pack her work clothes the night before and insist on leaving the house “clean and tidy.” So when Loose Women called her at the last minute to replace a recently ill co-star, it was a real test – one she passed.

“Normally I’d have celebrated the night before but I was still in bed. So I had a bit of a failure….” Linda explained. “But when I got there, I was fine.

“The same goes for the first day after returning from illness.

“However, every time I go in, it just feels like my life is getting more and more normal.”

Linda fears the family link to the condition, which can manifest in different ways, after realizing her late mother also had the condition. “We just thought she was really clean at the time,” admits Linda.

On the other hand, she’s been in rehab for three years, and thanks to Virgin Pina Coladas – her “new nipple” – “hasn’t quit drinking at all.” She also stopped blaming herself when it came to her 32-year-old husband Mark Dunford, son Louis, and daughters Bobbi, 26, and Lauren, 39.

“I was always the one to support my family in times of trouble,” says Linda. “Then suddenly the roles were reversed. I really felt guilty. But I don’t feel as much guilt now because I feel like I’m back to the woman I was before.”

Linda added: “And I think Mark and I are even stronger. I really think we are.”

She’s definitely back in combat form.

Her local MP, former Labor Leader Jeremy Corbyn, was recently spotted visiting the set of her new film Sumotherhood, a sequel to 2011’s Annuvahood.

“I asked him about Islington Road being closed,” she laughs. “I won’t say I scared him, but I talked to him!”

Then there’s Birds of a Feather writer Laurence Marks, who made headlines last month when he said the sitcom, which ran from 1989 to 1998 and 2014 and 2021, would never return. “When we created [them]they have a whole sex life in front of them and it’s all about sex,” he said. Now that they’re in their 60s, it’s a different series. “

Linda was unimpressed. “I honestly don’t know why he said that, I really don’t know,” she said. “We’ve done it in our 60s already. And we’re getting older with the audience.

“Tracey has skin cancer. We had menopause patches all over the set. And Dorien will never give up on men! Lesley is now 76 years old and still in the same shape as when we started!

“So yeah, now we’ll probably never do that again. But I just think people still love the show and there’s a lot of history to it. And we bring that to the audience, too. pretend to be younger.”

When asked if she would be doing another movie, Linda didn’t hesitate: “Yes! Yes! We had the happiest time.”

The mother-of-three is also fighting for another good cause – encouraging women to have cervical screenings. Both her daughters were found to have abnormal cells just before the pandemic.”

“When Lauren and Bobbi got the letters, it was a really worrying time,” she recalls. “I always thought that both my mom and dad had cancer.

“Everything is fine in the end, thank God. Both of my girls are doing fine right now, they’re fine. But it’s important to have regular check-ups.”

The joint campaign between the Department of Health and Social Care and the NHS was launched when it was revealed that one in three women did not go for a cervical screening. Two British women die every day, but 83% of those deaths could be prevented. In a poll of 3,000 people, 42% said they were too “embarrassed” while 28% “worried it would be painful.”

“It’s not pretty – you’re there with your feet in the air,” laughs Linda. “But it’s 10 minutes. When you think about all the hours in every day, it’s not long, if it could save your life.”

As for “embarrassment”, well, few can get over Linda’s clumsiness. She previously admitted doctors discovered a coil she forgot she had installed…. 25 years ago.

“They asked: ‘You don’t feel it?” but I did not! “She laughed at this. “It was dipped in. I had to go to the hospital to have it removed. That’s a bit embarrassing!”

Imagine the phone call when she told Pauline and Lesley….

Linda is supporting the Help Us, Help You: Cervical Screening Saves Life campaign, urging people not to ignore your invitation to have your cervical screening done. If you miss your last appointment, make an appointment with your GP or local sexual health clinic. For more information visit nhs.uk/cervicalscreening.

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