Suranne Jones has bravely spoken about the loss of both her parents and the huge impact their deaths have had on her mental health.
The Gentleman Jack star made a powerful appearance on Fearne Cotton's Happy Place podcast in which she revealed she is back on medication following the passing of her father in January this year.
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Suranne - who has been married to husband Laurence Akers since 2014 - told her host that she was first prescribed medication for her mental health following the death of her mother in 2016, when she suffered a "big breakdown".
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The 42-year-old said: "In 2016 I had my son, at the end of February, and by the end of 2016 I lost my mum.
Suranne has spoken openly about her mental health
"What I did was I went into work because I thought, 'Well, I'll take a job because I want to show that I'm back in the game', which is a whole other conversation about mums, especially actresses, saying 'I can do it all, don't write me off.'"
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Suranne went on to star in the 2018 play Frozen but admitted, "I had a very public breakdown on stage in front of the audience and there was a build-up to it that I didn't recognise.
The talented actress with her husband, Laurence Akers
"At that point, you would think I would stop, but instead I thought, 'It's OK, I've got this brilliant opportunity – Gentleman Jack – I'm going to do it because I think it will help me.' It did to a certain point because Anne Lister is such a beautiful character to portray," she continued.
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"So, after the first Gentleman Jack I had a really big breakdown and I was offered medication, and I took it," Suranne said. "And I didn't want to. Kicking and screaming, I took it, but I was so far gone by that point because I'd had the death of my mother and then I'd gone on to do two huge shows, and my husband did not know how to help me and we could see that all these things that I was trying to grasp on to to keep my life well and sorted weren't working anymore."
Suranne has coped with the loss of both her parents
Suranne came off her medication for around 12 months before the pandemic hit. But her father was then diagnosed with COVID-19 and spent many months in the ICU.
"He didn't make it, and eventually I got to say goodbye but in the full PPE, and then I got Covid myself at Christmas," the talented actress said. "At that point, I felt like I wasn't coping again so I had to go on medication again.
Her father passed away in January
She concluded: "I think it's important to say that I'm doing great and I'm still filming my job and professionally I've always been really strong and on point. But I'm on medication, and at some point, I'll aim to get off that, but I think there's a huge taboo around it and I wasn't going to say it but I decided last night I should because it's important."
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