She may not feel famous, but there aren’t many who don’t know Coleen Nolan. Here, she talks TV, family, traumas and dreams – and how she feels on top of the world.
Coleen Nolan can’t shake my hand when we meet. It’s not that she’s being rude, it’s because – coffee in her left hand, having just rushed from the Loose Women studio to our interview – her right hand is pretty much out of action. The neat little scar is evidence of the freak accident that happened at the stables where her daughter rides – Coleen had been trying to free a horse that had its reins trapped on a stable door when the panicked horse reared up and crushed her hand – and the Loose Women star has only recently returned to work after an enforced three weeks off.
‘I smashed my fingers to smithereens,’ says Coleen. ‘It was horrendous.’ What she didn’t find quite so horrendous was having an unexpected break at her home in Cheshire which she shares with her husband, musician Ray Fensome, their nine-year-old daughter, Ciara, and her two sons from her previous marriage to actor Shane Richie, Shane, 21, and Jake, 18.
‘It’s hard for me to say this, and some people may be surprised, but I’m never happier than when I’m at home. I prefer being a stay-at-home mum and I’m at my most content when I’m there. And that isn’t because the work at home is easier. It’s not; it’s the hardest job ever. I’ve just had time off because of this injury and I actually phoned a friend and said, “How can five people have so much washing?” I spent three weeks, day and night, just washing. And then shopping!
‘Things like “Mum, there’s no milk”. I’m like, “Hello! Am I the only person in this house that can drive or shop?” It’s the most thankless job ever… but I love it. I’m in my element when I do it and it makes me feel good.’ Having said all that, Coleen is clearly proud of her career and, more importantly, of her comebacks – of which she’s had two in close succession.
The comeback Queen
Last year saw The Nolans tour the UK with a hit comeback tour – their first in 25 years, to mark the 30th anniversary of the cult classic, I’m in the Mood for Dancing – while September this year saw Coleen return to ITV1’s This Morning, the very show that, 10 years ago, sacked her without warning. ‘When I did This Morning 10 years ago, I loved every minute of it. It was a really happy show to work on and that’s why the way it ended was so upsetting because I was having a ball. It was a real kick in the stomach for it to end the way it did. I was nervous about going back but a lot of the people there are the same as before and they all said to me, “Welcome home,” which was really lovely. I’m really enjoying it. Ten years ago, when I lost my job on the show, I thought that was it for me. But in the last decade, I’ve danced on ice, Loose Women has just won its eighth award and I’ve gone back to This Morning.
I hope I’m setting an example of “Don’t ever give up”. ‘I’m in the This Morning hub on a Monday and Tuesday and every day I’m there I think, Gosh, 10 years ago… This Morning has been on for 20-odd years now, so it does have to evolve. The Hub has brought it up- to-date because we live in a computerised world. It gives the public time to have their say. Before, the show would ask for emails but there was never time to read them out. I used to think, What’s the point of asking people to write in with an opinion if you’re not going to read them out? But now The Hub gives viewers that opportunity.’
An opportunity Coleen never thought she’d be given again was the chance to tour with her sisters, the ultimate girl band of the ’80s, The Nolans, again. But 2009 saw that happen to resounding success. ‘It was so much better than we ever thought it would be. It had been 25 years since we last toured, so was I nervous? Oh, you’ve no idea! Universal had booked arenas – even when we were having hits 25 years ago we never did arenas! But the response was overwhelming. People went absolutely wild.
‘On the first night, the screens opened and we had our backs to the audience. There was this deafening cheer and I remember looking across at Linda, who was next to me, and raising my eyebrows up. I seriously thought someone else has come on or the boy dancers have come on naked, because that roar cannot be for us. But when we turned around, people were up on their feet, screaming, and they stayed on their feet for two hours. They just went mental! It was the best thing I have ever done!’
A woman of substance
There’s no denying that Coleen has done one hell of a lot in her 45 years. Singer, TV presenter, novelist, columnist – does she have a favourite? ‘I love presenting, because I enjoy meeting people. My favourite thing at the moment, which I haven’t been doing long, is the problem page in The Mirror because I love listening to people’s problems. I’m genuinely interested in people’s lives. I’m not an expert in anything, I’ve no letters after my name, but for me, it’s just about putting myself in that situation or, a lot of the time, they are situations that I have been in. I can go, “Well, look, this is what I did”.
‘I’d never be flippant about the letters I receive because what might seem a silly problem to me, the fact that they’ve written in, means it’s a major problem to them. I find it really interesting. I’m actually better, and more comfortable, talking to the general public than I am interviewing a celebrity. I’ve always felt like I’m the general public; I’ve never felt like a celebrity. I’m rubbish at it. I know I’m very lucky because I go to all these red carpet events and I’ve met some amazing people, but I always think, I shouldn’t be here. ‘I’m mortified as you drive up in the car to a red carpet event because I think, Oh God, they won’t know me. I’m still thrilled when a photographer goes, “Coleen, can you look this way?” I always say to my husband, “Oh my God, he knew my name!” So I still get star struck and all of that.’ Life in the spotlight.
Whether Coleen feels like a celebrity or not, she’s spent most of her life in the public eye – she joined the Nolans in 1980 at just 15. ‘You know how kids say, “When I grow up I want to be a pop star,” and they stand in front of the mirror with a hairbrush… I never did that, because from the age of two, I was doing clubs and cabaret. It’s just something I’ve always done.’ Coleen, the youngest of the Nolan sisters, married actor Shane Richie – best known for playing Alfie Moon in EastEnders – in 1990 but, seven years later, her marriage was under media scrutiny when it was revealed that Shane had been having a long-term affair. The couple divorced in 1999.
‘For me, when it happened, it was all about the boys. I was fiercely protective of them. I’d seen so many people use their kids as ammunition to hurt the person back and I knew I never, ever want to do that. I learnt from watching other people. I think that’s a great way to learn through life. Shane and I had our moments – but never in front of the boys. It was hard; really, really hard. ‘I remember people saying to me, “The boys should know. Why are you protecting him? They should know it was him that made them come from a broken home, not you”. But I kept saying, “They’ll work it out when they’re older. They’ll make their own minds up about what happened”. They read my autobiography, Upfront & Personal, and there’s a lot in there that they didn’t know had gone on. Jake said to me, “Mum, you never told us half of that”. I said, “Well, why would I? I didn’t need to come into your room and go, “Guess what your Dad’s done today?”’
Shane and Jake’s dad, today, is back on our screens in EastEnders playing that inimitable character, Alfie. Can Coleen watch her ex at work? ‘When I watch Shane I see who I was married to and I think, God, he really is a good actor! To me, they’re the same. The biggest shock for me was when he was in it the first time around, him and Kat and all that, and I saw him sobbing on screen, and thought, Oh my God. He does that so easily. He’d done that with me and it had killed me at the time. For me, it’s like watching a more exaggerated version of Shane. You know, he’s a lovable rogue that would get away with murder. That’s Alfie Moon and that’s Shane Richie – two peas in a pod.’
Was Coleen concerned about her youngest son, Jake, entering the world of soapland when he took on the role of Isaac Nuttall in Emmerdale? ‘I never put him off. I think if it’s in your blood, it’s in your blood and it’s been in Jake’s blood since he was two. All he’s ever wanted to do is sing and act so it wouldn’t have mattered what I had said. Jake and Shane [Jnr] are both good at entertaining, so who am I to stop them doing that? There are so many fantastic high points of being in the business; everyone always talks about the low points, and there are a lot, but there are also many great opportunities that you wouldn’t get elsewhere. ‘The only thing I warned him about was not to go on the internet and read websites because they can destroy you, and not to get battered down if a TV critic thinks you’re crap.
For 20 people that think you’re the best thing since sliced bread, the one you’ll read, that’ll stick in your mind, is the one person that can’t stand anything about you. I did it once in my career and it affected me for about two years. Whenever I was on telly, I remember thinking, I better not do that because those women hate it when I do that. And then all of a sudden I thought, Don’t be an idiot. Not everyone is going to love you. When you’re on telly, you’re in the public eye, and it’s so venomous sometimes. You want to say to your critics, “God, why do you hate me so much?”’
Am I bovvered?
Now in her 40s, Coleen claims to be at her most confident yet – and rarely lets things bother her. Her fluctuating weight is one issue that seems to be the cause of constant interest. ‘I’ve put a bit of weight on over the summer but I don’t beat myself up about it anymore. Apparently, there are pap shots going round and the mags are doing big stories that I’m getting fat again. Do you know what? Let ‘em. I’m not bothered. ‘Even when I was slim, a pap shot would always manage to get some fat – they’d wait ‘til you bend over or whatever! Now I just think, I’ll get the weight off and this time I’ll get it off for me. I feel fitter in my 40s than I did in my 20s or 30s.
‘I think being a mum makes you fit – all the running around. I do have moments where I think, Right, I hate myself at the moment, I’m getting fat, and then I become a bit manic – not where I stop eating or anything, but all of a sudden, I eat really healthily, do my DVD and go for walks. I always do my own DVDs – I feel I’d be a traitor to myself if I did someone else’s – but I do mine, because they really work.
I know because I’ve done ‘em! They’re not too hard because I never wanted them to be – that was always the excuse I had for not doing anyone else’s.’ And after her stint on ITV1’s Dancing on Ice last year, is she still to be found at her local ice rink? ‘I did ice skate for a year or so after the show – we used to go every Friday because Ciara became obsessed – but I haven’t been for ages. What’s brilliant about Dancing on Ice is you come out and you can skate. What’s a nightmare is you come out and there’s nothing more boring than skating round for 20 minutes.
I’m used to being spun around, picked up, somersaulting. You don’t get the adrenaline rush when you just skate around in circles. There’s no better adrenaline rush than Dancing on Ice. But last time we went, all of a sudden I realised I was chatting to my family as I skated backwards. It was just so easy. And yet, for the first four or five weeks of that show, I kept saying, “That will never compute to my brain. I’ll never be able to skate backwards”. It just wouldn’t happen – and then there I was, months afterwards, skating backwards like it was second nature. It was lovely to learn a new skill and to know I’ll never be nervous of skating again.’
Coleen also presented The Truth About Eternal Youth on ITV1 this year. Did she learn anything from that? ‘I think the secret to eternal youth is being happy. Being happy with yourself. I met a lot of women who’d had cosmetic surgery and yet were still so sad because it just wasn’t good enough. The problem was internal and they were trying to cover it by making themselves look perfect. I think you have to find some form of contentment. There will always be someone younger and better looking than you. That’s life. You can have all the surgery in the world but if somebody 20 years old comes along who’s had no surgery and is just fresh-faced, they’re still going to look better than you.
‘I love the fact that we’re all different shapes and sizes. I love lines on faces, especially in older people. I love older people’s faces. They’re called laughter lines because you’ve laughed a lot. Frown lines because maybe you’ve frowned too much. But they all tell a story of your life. Nowadays I’m meeting people, especially older people, and I’m thinking, I don’t know what you’ve lived through, love, because it’s all a bit plastic. ‘The cosmetic surgery industry is a multimillion pound business because it feeds on people’s insecurities. I wasn’t insecure – I never look at myself long enough in a mirror. I think, Oh right, a bit of lippy, that’ll do. But since presenting that programme, because they pointed out every single thing that was wrong with me, I now see them. I think, Ugh, I never noticed that before and now I can’t take my eyes off it. But I did find it fascinating. It made me realise that I am actually quite a strong person.’
Family traumas
Coleen has needed to draw on this strength many times over the years, most recently supporting her sister, Bernie, through breast cancer. Bernie is the third Nolan to have had breast cancer – older sisters Ann and Linda have both survived the disease. ‘Bernie’s been unbelievable since day one. Ever since she was diagnosed her attitude has been, “Right, I’ve got breast cancer. What are we going to do about it, because it isn’t going to kill me”. ‘If it’s caught early, breast cancer doesn’t have to be a death sentence anymore. Women just seem to take it in their stride, but what else can you do, especially if you’ve got children? You have got to fight.’ Perhaps surprisingly, it’s not cancer that worries Coleen the most. ‘Of course it’s something I worry about because I’ve had three sisters with it. But I’ve also had three sisters who, touch wood, have survived it. I’m very, very vigilant and I’m constantly checking.’ So what is her biggest fear?
‘I fear Alzheimer’s the most – give me anything but that. It’s just a horrible, horrible disease – the cruellest. My mother lived with it for five years and I don’t ever want my children to see me go through what she did. I always say to them, “If it happens to me, just put me in a home and walk away”. ‘That was the hardest thing with my mum – if she’d been in the right frame of mind, she’d have hated us seeing her like that. She went from being the most placid woman I’ve ever met in my life to throwing things around the room, using every profanity, sobbing like a baby, “Please take me, I’ll be good, I’ll be good” to “You’re a bitch, I never liked you”. Vile. That was really difficult because that wasn’t my mum. I was grieving for five years and yet she was still there.’
Family life is everything to Coleen, but a rift between her two sisters, Anne and Denise, that began with a petty row with Coleen’s husband, Ray, looks like it may never heal. ‘Initially there was a part of me that thought, Hopefully we can get over this and we’ll agree to disagree but the longer it’s gone on, and since the tour, when controversy flared up again [Anne and Denise were not asked to take part in the recent comeback tour], it’s gone too far for me. ‘I’m really protective of my own family now and things were said – and they weren’t things that were just said in the heat of the moment. There are times when you can say, “Do you know what, we were all angry or we were drunk, let’s forget it,” but when things are said over and over for years, I don’t know how you can get over that. I wouldn’t know what to talk to them about because I genuinely know how they feel. I never see them but my kids still do – I would never stop the kids seeing them.
‘When Bernie got her cancer, Anne got in touch with her and they’re now in contact. What they’ve decided to do is just never ever talk about what went on, in other words sweep it under the carpet. But for me, at some point, whether it’s through drink or just irritation, that carpet would lift up and it will all come out and I don’t ever want to go through any of that again.’ Does she think she would change her mind if either one of her estranged sisters ever fell ill? ‘I don’t wish either of them any ill but, God forbid, if anything happened to them, I would find it really hard because if I went to see them I’d be there going, “I’m so sorry,” but inside I’d be thinking, I know you can’t stand me, so I don’t know why I’m here. People say, “Life’s too short,” but I say, “Yes, but life’s also too short to pretend”.
Back to reality
And with that, Coleen has to go, joking that she feels like she’s just had ‘an hour of therapy!’ Her next appointment is at Rigby & Peller to find some underwear to stop everything ‘hanging out’. Once that’s done, it’s another live show of Loose Women in the morning – ‘It’s live every day now. I love live work – it gets the adrenaline going and it means we can always be topical’ – and then home. There’ll be washing to do, ‘someone will call me on my way back from the station and ask me to get milk’, and Ciara, who’s ‘massively into horses’ will no doubt want Mum to take her to the stables. Thankfully, Coleen’s recent injury hasn’t frightened her away. ‘I muck out stables, push wheelbarrows and sometimes go riding. It has given me a whole new lease of life; I absolutely adore it. It’s what I would like to end up doing actually, to buy somewhere with stables. That’s my dream.’
Pictures: nicky johnston/urban associates
