Coronation Street star Jamie Kenna has spoken about how he 'struggled in silence' as he faced his own anxiety and depression battle. The actor, who made his debut on the ITV soap as Phill Whittaker last year, shared his own personal experiences with mental health during an interview with Lorraine Kelly.
Jamie joined the Scottish TV presenter on her self-titled ITV show, Lorraine, on Wednesday (July 6) where he was quizzed about his current Corrie storyline as his character prepares to marry Fiz Stape in scenes to air this week.
After chatting about Phill and joining the cast of the Salford-based soap, Lorraine went on to praise the Green Street star for being 'so open' as she encouraged him to talk about his past struggles and how he now tries to help others simply by talking.
"I suffered a few years back now, and I’m a 6 foot 4 burly guy – I’m a big bloke – so I’m typical of that demographic," the 38-year-old told Lorraine, 62. "I was brought up in the ‘70s so I wasn’t taught how to talk about it and I wasn’t taught that it was a possibility, and what anxiety is and what panic attacks are."
He went on: "I started suffering when I was in War Horse in the West End and something was happening to me and I didn’t know at it was, and it turns out I was suffering from anxiety and depression." Jamie suggested he kept quiet about how he was feeling until he discovered that wasn't the way forward.
"It went on for a long time and I kind of silently suffered, and then a few years on I discovered through meditation and various other things that talking about it does literally halve the problem," he said before sharing how he hopes to be "a bit of a champion" in encouraging people to talk about the problems they're facing and how they're feeling.
"I think there’s a lot of people like me on building sites and in normal, everyday life that don’t know what’s happening and have this fear that’s running through them," Jamie said. "And I want to be a bit of a champion to encourage people to talk."
Jamie was flooded with support last month when he posted a video on Instagram sharing how he felt while also offering some encouragement to others. Following the Jubilee weekend, which saw many enjoy a four day celebration in honour of the Queen's 70 year reign, the soap star said: "I just wanted to share this video. I'm sat outside the gym and for 15 minutes now."
He said he had been scrolling through Instagram looking at the news and "basically doing anything I can to avoid me going into the gym because I've had a very, very long Jubilee weekend." He said that while it was "lots of fun" he had drank and eaten "a lot of rubbish."
Jamie then commented how he wanted to share the moment he was having as he 'sure he wasn't the only one' to be feeling the same way. And he was right. @nancyhovhanesian replied "I feel the same. You can do it you can go in just take it easy." @davesergeant45 said: "Get in there mate. I was the same."
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