Christine Lampard compares lockdown to growing up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles

Christine Lampard compared the COVID-19 lockdown to growing up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles on Friday’s Loose Women.

The Irish presenter, 41, was born in Newry and moved to Newtownards, County Down, when she was five-years-old.

Christine revealed that during the Troubles in Northern Ireland she suffered anxiety as a child and wouldn’t sleep until her musician father returned home each evening. 

The Troubles took place from 1968 to 1998 and has been described as a ‘low-level war’ in Northern Ireland, with the battle also taking place in the Republic of Ireland and England. It is said more than 3,500 people lost their lives. 

Christine said: ‘As a teenager and certainly as a younger child, lots of things got cancelled, a lot of the time because awful things were happening.

‘People were being killed, families losing their loved ones, unfortunately, it strangely became the norm. That is what our news was every day, a little bit like it is now, you assume the headline is to do with the coronavirus. 

‘Unfortunately, back home, it was always going to be about the Troubles, maybe someone had lost their life that day or some atrocity. It was a strange thing, we were used to just staying in.  

‘My mum never liked us going out to Belfast – there could be a bomb scare – that is what life was. Certainly in my lifetime, it was difficult for people to have a normal life.’

Talking about whether the Troubles had a lasting impact in her life, she added: ‘I think it has, I never take things for granted.

‘My dad was a musician and I’d be sitting at home full of anxiety. The anxiety I had that someone would go into the bar he was in and shoot him.

‘I would sit in bed and wait for him to come home before going to sleep.’

Sharing her advice for people and children struggling during lockdown, Christine said: ‘As tough as this is, it will feel fantastic when it’s over.’

She added: ‘What I would say to kids, imagine what it will feel like when we have normality.

‘We used to love getting dolled up at home, putting make-up on, your first holiday, going to university. 

‘I hope all these young people remember this awful period and really live their lives to the best of their ability when it’s over.’ 

During the Troubles, the country divided as loyalists, predominantly made up of Protestants, who wanted Northern Ireland to remain in the UK.

While Irish nationalists, predominately made up of Catholics, wanted Northern Ireland to leave the UK and unite with the Republic of Ireland.

During the Troubles, the Irish Republican Army (IRA), who wanted to unite Ireland and end British rule, staged bomb attacks across Ireland and England. They are said to have killed 1,800 people, including 600 civilians who also lost their lives. 

The UK was put into lockdown on March 23, with the public having to avoid meeting up with friends and families since March 16. 

Coronavirus has killed 36,042 and infected 251K people in the UK so far. 

Loose Women continues on weekdays at 12:30pm on ITV.