Nadia Sawalha opens up about husband’s addiction on Loose Women, calling their relationship co-dependent

Nadia Sawalha fought back tears on Thursday's Loose Women as she discussed her husband's addiction issues, saying the couple's dynamic is co-dependent and that she is a rescuer.

In the ITV studio, host Kaye Adams and fellow panelists Oti Mabuse and Judi Love joined the conversation, which also touched on Wayne Rooney's recent remarks that he "needs to be managed" and has been "saved" from darkness by his wife Colleen.

Sawalha said of her husband Mark: "Mark does have mental health issues and I support him through that from a position of 'I'm so lucky that I don't go through that'. When he's low, it can be very hard but it's not as hard as what he's going through. I help him see pinholes of light when it's very dark," she said.

The 60-year-old actress noted she has been married to Mark for 23 years and the couple have two daughters.

She added: "I am a rescuer, and he's co-dependent and I'm co-dependent. When I met him, he was everything that I love about him, and it took me a while to realise that he had addiction problems, and him as well, he didn't know. I had already seen his heart and his soul and his beautiful brain. So, if you talk about rescuing - there was no choice, I was already there."

Her heartfelt admission moved the studio audience, who clapped in support, but host Kaye Adams replied bluntly: "I don't want to be anyone's Mummy." Nadia retorted: "Mark supports me - but in different ways." Judy then claimed that issues at the very outset of a relationship have a different flavour to issues that develop throughout.

It comes after panellist Kelly Brook admitted she would be devastated if her husband Jeremy Parisi went on to have children with someone else should their marriage not last. The model and actress, 46, joined Loose Women on Wednesday, where the discussion turned to family planning and how couples approach the subject of children. Kelly, who married French model Jeremy in 2022, revealed that the couple made a conscious decision not to have children together, but admitted the reality still weighs on her mind. "The time has probably run out, I don't know, I just have to get my head around it," she reflected. She continued: "If our marriage doesn't end up successful in the long term, how would I feel seeing him go on and have children with other people? We made the decision early on that we wouldn't have children, but I can't say I wouldn't be heartbroken."

Loose Women airs weekdays on ITV1 from 12:30pm and is available to stream on ITVX.