Denise Welsh sparked concern from Loose Women viewers on Wednesday, within moments of the show starting, as Twitter was filled with posts asking if she was alright.
After a break from the ITV studio, to do some filming and catching up with friends and family in LA, Denise has been back on the panel this week, and for the latest episode was joined by host Jane Moore and co-stars Kelle Bryan and Katie Piper. At the start of the show, Jane teased that they would be joined by Ruth Dodsworth, who was coming on to talk about her fears about her abusive ex husband being released from prison.
Wednesday's episode also brought a discussion about The Queen and whether she should be taking more time to recover after her battle with Covid. Before all of that, the Loose Women panel addressed the story that has dominated headlines over the past 24 hours - Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak being fined for attending Downing Street parties during lockdown.
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Anchor Jane asked the panel if they thought Prime Minister Johnson should resign or be left to get on with running the country and went to Denise first to get her opinions. Hollyoaks star Denise began: "Do I think he should resign? No. I've said for many reasons over the past two years, I've sort of better the devil you know. I have no doubt and I'm not as informed as a lot of people on the situation in Ukraine, but I do believe he is doing the best job he can for that."
As Denise then began to give the other side of the argument and said she hoped the Ukraine conflict wouldn't detract from what went on during the pandemic and the Government rule breaking, she started to sound hoarse before coughing. Trying to continue with her point, Denise then coughed again, apologising to the panel, saying: "Sorry about this."
It didn't take long for viewers to raise their concerns on Twitter. One questioned "Denise feeling well?" with another tweeting: "Denise talking about covid whilst coughing her guts up." A third reacted: "Someone get Denise a Halls Soother."
