Linda Robson breaks down during Loose Women return after revealing secret health battle

Loose Women panellist Linda Robson returned on Friday morning, and opened up about why she’d taken a break from the show for the past 18 months.

Speaking honestly to her panellists, Linda Robson revealed that she’d been struggling with a secret battle with anxiety, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Linda explained she’d “had a meltdown” after having a bad reaction to a tablet taken when she stopped drinking wine, and it had kicked her OCD into “overdrive”.

She said, "I came off the wine, and upped tablets to sleep, so I went to see someone and they gave me something else – and I won't name it – but it gave me bad anxiety and depression, and my OCD kicked into overdrive."

As a result of this, Linda Robson confessed that everything in her house needed to be spotless, and she would obsessively clean every day. She took four baths a day and even washed her bedding every day too.

Other members of the Loose Women panel had admitted they’d been worried about Linda, whilst she admitted the OCD had completely taken over her life.

Nadia Sawalha said they were “really worried” and they’d originally thought Linda had dementia due to some of her behaviours. She added, “We watched you losing weight and talked about how in you, it was like the dimmer switch was being turned down and we were losing you.”

Stacey Solomon described an "intense" night spend with Linda, where she said it was the first time she’d really seen severe OCD in action.

She admitted, “Sometimes we joke about it and say: ‘Oh I’m so OCD’, but watching you I remember you that your phone had to be charged 100 per cent and every two minutes you looked at your phone and if it was on 99, you would go straight to the charger point and turn it on.”

Stacey had also come along to some appointments with Linda, after she reached out for help at a hospital and was diagnosed with the disorder.