Inside Linda Robson’s many heartbreaks: How Loose Women star, 65, has coped with OCD, alcoholism and infidelity as she announces split from husband of 33 years

Linda Robson revealed this week that she has split from husband Mark Dunford after 33 years of marriage.

The 65-year-old Loose Women panelist confirmed the news after months of rumors of marital problems, telling Woman magazine: ‘He’s a very good father and we’ve had some good years, but enough is enough.

‘I have my family and my children around me. And I’m going on a cruise with Lesley Joseph in November. I stay busy. I feel fine. I just always travel.

“Honestly, I’m not interested in dating. I can’t be angry about all that.’

The split is the latest in a slew of personal issues to have plagued Linda in recent years, with the mother-of-three speaking candidly about her struggles on her ITV show.

In 2018, Linda became dependent on alcohol after being prescribed a drug intended to help combat her depression, which led to three stints in rehab.

Reflecting on the experience during an episode of Loose Women, Linda explained: ‘I went through a really difficult time, I was depressed, started drinking alcohol and had obsessive-compulsive disorder.

‘I used to always drink a glass of wine or spritzers in the evening, at ten o’clock at night, but never during the day. And then I was put on medication that made me a little crazy.

‘I was given a certain medication that was supposed to help the depression, but it didn’t just make the depression worse, so I had to go to three different institutions and it was the worst time in my life, I completely ruined my family’s life.’

Linda recalled a specific low point, referencing a trip she took with other Loose Women friends – from which she had to return home early.

She explained: ‘We were in Ibiza and I broke down in front of all the girls. Stacey had to take me home and she took me to The Priory.’

‘I had a very serious depression and damaged myself. I was cleaning everywhere and washing my sheets every night when I got home’.

She took a year off from Loose Women and made her big return to the show in January 2020.

Linda told her co-stars: ‘I had a meltdown. I gave up the wine and took a tablet every night to help me sleep. When I came off the wine, I increased the tablet, and then I started to worry about taking the tablet.

‘So I went to talk to someone about it and they gave me a tablet. I won’t mention the name, but I reacted very badly to it, quite a meltdown. I started having really bad anxiety, really bad depression, and my obsessive compulsive disorder went into overdrive.”

The heartbreaking dependency and outcome left her family seeking desperate measures as they “tried to find her someone to come with.”

She continued: “Family found me somewhere to go, to help me, I was in this place for six weeks, put in so many tablets and left with even more, it was my doctor who said you can Worst reaction to this drug that I have ever seen…

Of her terrifying comedown, she said: “Even if you have to come down slowly, it took me a long time to feel normal again.”

When asked if the police had to intervene amid her troubles, Linda continued: ‘Yes, they were called because I was drinking…

‘They locked me up because I couldn’t get out. I screamed, ‘Get me out,’ so the police were called because they thought I had been kidnapped… That was my family trying to protect me.”

Aside from her substance problems, Linda revealed that she took ‘four baths’ every day as she suffered from her obsessive-compulsive disorder. She added: ‘At one point I was having four baths a day, I was washing my bed linen every day…

‘People joke when they hear someone say OCD, they think it’s a joke or whatever, but it’s not really a joke, it’s taken over my life. I couldn’t clean everything sufficiently.’

Commenting on her recovery, Linda noted that there was no quick fix, but she felt like she was “finally” on the other side.

Linda previously explained that her fears date back to 2008, when her son Louis, now 31, had been out with boyfriend Ben Kinsella on the night Ben was stabbed and died at the scene.

Linda is also mother to two daughters Lauren, 40, and Roberta, 27, and has struggled with anxiety and OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder).

The Birds Of A Feather star has also spoken about her trust issues after her partner of 11 years cheated on her.

Before marrying Mark, Linda dated Tony Tyler for eleven years and they welcomed daughter Lauren in 1983.

However, their relationship was plagued with misery, and she told the Loose Women audience in 2017: ‘I caught my ex cheating several times – even when I was pregnant with Lauren.

“One time I was out and Lauren was out with me. When I returned, everything seemed fine in the flat. But when I went to bed that night, I moved the pillow and there was a tissue with lipstick on it and long blonde hair.”

Before marrying Mark, Linda dated Tony Tyler for eleven years and they welcomed daughter Lauren in 1983.

However, their relationship was plagued with misery, and she told the Loose Women audience in 2017: ‘I caught my ex cheating several times – even when I was pregnant with Lauren.

“One time I was out and Lauren was out with me. When I returned, everything seemed fine in the flat. But when I went to bed that night, I moved the pillow and there was a tissue with lipstick on it and long blonde hair.”

Linda said: ‘I remember saying to my ex, “What is this?”, and he said, “One of my friends stayed and her partner, it must be hers.” But do you know when you’ll know?’

She explained how she did her own detective work, determined to find out what was going on.

Linda said: ‘When I found out it was a relief because you know it’s over, you’re not going crazy.’

The star continued: “I had found letters, I followed him. I caught him with someone while I was also pregnant with Lauren. I was waiting outside the house and he went into this girl’s house.”

In 1990 she married Mark and in 2017 Linda revealed that she and Mark had a difficult period where they were on the brink of divorce.

She explained, “I love him. We’ve had a tough few years where we could easily have called it quits, but we didn’t.’

She revealed that their problems started when children Lauren and Louis were each exposed to traumatic events, which tested Linda and Mark’s marriage.

Things became challenging when Lauren was diagnosed with bulimia and Louis with PTSD after witnessing his friend’s murder.

“People always said Lauren looked like Kate Moss,” she said, first about her daughter’s ordeal. ‘We went to the station and they took lots of pictures, but someone said to her, “You need to lose a little weight.”

‘I replied, “No, she doesn’t” and we walked out. It was ridiculous.’

After this incident, Linda noticed that Lauren lost weight, became dramatically thin, and yet ate normally before her eyes.

She deduced that it was related to bulimia, vomiting the food she had eaten, and took her to get help.

Lauren beat the condition after two years, when she was 19; but more sadness followed in 2008 when Ben Kinsella was stabbed to death.

Ben was a friend of Linda’s son Louis and was murdered at the age of 16 when he was stabbed eleven times while celebrating the end of their high school graduation.

Louis watched Ben die on the street, which led to PTSD and frequent severe panic attacks.

‘Louis is doing very well now. He is constantly working on music and writing,” Linda said of her eldest son, who came out on the other side 10 years later.

Linda’s marriage was also tested when she lost her father to lung cancer in 1997. He was only 57 years old and died a week after diagnosis.

Her mother died in 2012, also from cancer, this time stomach cancer, at the age of 75, which Linda admits was traumatic, but she died peacefully and pain-free.

If you need confidential help with alcohol abuse, call Alcoholics Anonymous for free on 0800 9177 650 or email help@aamail.org

If you need confidential help with depression or mental health, call Samaritans freephone 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org