Andrea McLean and husband Nick Feeney talk about her battle with suicidal thoughts

Andrea McLean and her husband Nick Feeney have spoken candidly about her battle with mental health. 

The Loose Women presenter, 50, had a nervous breakdown last year and contemplated suicide ‘sobbing on a hotel floor uncontrollably’ as her anxiety ‘overwhelmed me’.

Now in the podcast, White Wine Question Time hosted by Kate Thornton, the couple speak about how their marriage survived the darkest of days. 

Speaking out: Andrea McLean and her husband Nick Feeney have spoken candidly about her battle with mental health

Nick, 47, said: ‘Andrea is such a tough individual and she has walked through so much s**t in her life. 

‘She wants to put a smile on her face and be professional. 

‘To have seen what’s gone on, the difference with me is that I’ve not just read it in a book – I’ve seen it. It’s just horrendous, it’s hard.  

Terrifying: The Loose Women presenter, 50, had a nervous breakdown last year and contemplated suicide as she 'sobbed on a hotel floor uncontrollably'

Terrifying: The Loose Women presenter, 50, had a nervous breakdown last year and contemplated suicide as she ‘sobbed on a hotel floor uncontrollably’ 

‘All I want to do now is make sure she never goes back there again. To do everything within my power… sell everything, get rid of my cars, get rid of my property, I’d get rid of everything to make sure you [Andrea] do not go from smiling at me, then something happens and you’re in tears. 

‘It’s just awful to watch and I never want to see her go back there again. She’s in such a good place at the moment and I just want to keep her there.’ 

Andrea said she is now the ‘strongest I’ve ever been mentally’.

‘I look things in the face, I’m not skirting around them anymore and I feel mentally really strong,’ she said.

‘But it’s really tough to keep talking about it all the time.’ 

Painful: 'To have seen what's gone on, the difference with me is that I've not just read it in a book - I've seen it. It's just horrendous, it's hard,' Nick said

Painful: ‘To have seen what’s gone on, the difference with me is that I’ve not just read it in a book – I’ve seen it. It’s just horrendous, it’s hard,’ Nick said 

Honest: Andrea previously spoke about her spiralling depression in an extract of her book This Girl Is On Fire which she shared with MailOnline

Honest: Andrea previously spoke about her spiralling depression in an extract of her book This Girl Is On Fire which she shared with MailOnline 

Last week, Andrea spoke about her spiralling depression in an extract of her book This Girl Is On Fire, which she shared with MailOnline.  

She wrote: ‘At my lowest point, I was suicidal. This is the first time I’ve admitted that.

‘Just days after I’d collapsed on my make-up artist Donna, I had an argument with my husband, Nick, and then went away on a work trip. 

‘It was a trivial thing, the kind of spat all couples have, and he’d only been mildly annoyed with me. 

‘But I was in such a bad state of mind that it triggered overwhelming anxiety and other negative emotions. 

‘Alone in my hotel room, I wanted to end it all right then. I felt Nick couldn’t see my side of things at all — and if someone who loved me as much as he did failed to see it, what was the point?

Awful: Andrea is happily married to Nick, 47, but last year the presenter had an argument with him which triggered overwhelming anxiety and suicidal thoughts (pictured in 2018)

Awful: Andrea is happily married to Nick, 47, but last year the presenter had an argument with him which triggered overwhelming anxiety and suicidal thoughts (pictured in 2018)

‘And yet I couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to hurt my family — Nick, 47, my beloved third husband, and my two wonderful teenagers; 18-year-old Finlay from my first marriage and 13-year-old Amy from my second.

‘I thought they would be ashamed that I’d been so weak. I lay on the floor of my room and sobbed.

‘Then the next day I got up, went to work, put on a smile and knocked it out of the park at a meeting. No one would ever have known.

‘How could I have done that? How can anyone go from lying on the floor feeling suicidal to going into work the next day?

‘Ask anyone who has been in this situation and I’m sure they will say the same thing: shame keeps you smiling.’

For confidential support or advice call the Samaritans on 116 123 for free or visit www.samaritans.org 

Andrea has two wonderful teenagers; 18-year-old Finlay from her first marriage and 13-year-old Amy from her second. Pictured: The family in 2011

Andrea has two wonderful teenagers; 18-year-old Finlay from her first marriage and 13-year-old Amy from her second. Pictured: The family in 2011