Kym Marsh has revealed the pain she felt after losing her baby son Archie, who died at 21 weeks in 2009. The actress, who plays Michelle Connor on Coronation Street, had the painful task of acting out a storyline that mirrored the death of her own son, and Kym admitted that she had flashbacks during filming.
"After Archie died I was utterly lost," Kym told The Sun on Sunday. "When I lost Archie, all I could think was, 'Why has this happened to me?' I had carried a baby for nearly six months and yet what did I have? What was the point in it all? Archie wasn't even weighed, I don't know why, and he didn't have a birth certificate. All I had was a leaflet they gave me when I left hospital."
Kym Marsh lost her baby boy in 2009
Kym, who has a son David and two daughters Emilie and Polly, added: "I didn't want to go outside, I didn't want to see anyone, I didn't want to hear anyone laughing. How could anyone laugh when my son has died? I just wanted to stay hidden away forever." The brave mum admitted that there are still days when she cannot talk about her "angel" Archie without breaking down in tears. She had a counsellor on the set of Corrie, who helped bring her back to the present when she was acting out Michelle's storyline. Her character Michelle loses her baby Ruairi at 23 weeks and almost kills herself.
"Corrie were brilliant and arranged for me to have access to a counsellor before and during filming," said Kym. "He was there to bring me back to now after those scenes. But I still had horrible moments." Of the scene where Michelle sees her baby, Kym said: "After 'cut' was called, I had to sit there for a few minutes, telling myself, 'It's Michelle, not Kym'. That was the hardest moment. But I made myself go there, and open those wounds."
The actress plays Michelle Connor in Coronation Street
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Adding that she has no regrets for going through with the storyline, the soap star said: "I wanted to help women like me, and I wanted to honour Archie. I knew it would be really painful but this is an issue that affects thousands of families every year and it's something that often isn't talked about. I wanted to show people all of those little things that really hurt me. Michelle heard other babies crying on the ward, and that's exactly what happened to me."