Coronation Street's Simon Gregson suffered 'up to 12 panic attacks a day' as he recalls crisis call to ITV boss
07.09.2023 - 11:33
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Coronation Street actor Simon Gregson has opened up about his battle with anxiety as explained the extent to which he has suffered over the last 20 years. The actor, who has played Steve McDonald on the ITV soap for 34 years, joined Lorraine Kelly on her self-titled talk show on Thursday (Sept 7). s
Simon, who came runner-up on I'm A Celebrity in 2021, revealed he suffered 'up to 12 panic attacks a day' and was forced to put in a crisis call to his boss after he struggled to make it into work for his role as a cab driver on the ITV soap.
The Coronation Street star also explained how ITV had brought in a psychiatrist who had worked with the Royal Family to help him after he admitted to struggling with the illness, which he revealed he 'didn't know what it was' before his diagnosis.
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Speaking on the programme, Simon told Lorraine: "Around 2015 it had come to its head the whole anxiety thing, because I didn't know what it was. I kept getting really ill and I kept getting checked out.
"I had heart scans and brain scans, they thought I had vertigo at one point, then we went back to the beginning and my GP then figured out that I had an anxiety disorder and I'd had it for so long."
Explaining his symptoms, Simon said: "It's an awful disorder, when it was at its worst what it would do is make my fingers go completely numb, my side of my face would go numb, tunnel vision, you're inside but you can't bring yourself out. You feel sick, you feel dizzy and your heart feels like it's coming out of your chest. It's completely debilitating."
The actor then revealed that despite having 'up to 12 panic attacks a day', he couldn't act