Former Coronation Street star Beverley Callard has opened up about the bankruptcy which drove her to a mental breakdown and forced her to give up her role on the soap.
The actress, 55, found herself overcome with debt after facing huge medical bills incurred when she was treated for depression in 2009.
Beverley had been forced to take a break from work on Corrie to spend time with her mother, who was in the late stages of Alzheimer's.
'Since the bankruptcy became public people think I'm a showbiz diva who frittered her cash away on expensive dinners and fancy clothes. That couldn't be further from the truth,' Beverley told the Sunday Mirror.
'It was horrific. I've worked non-stop since I was 16 and somehow it all seemed it had been for nothing.'
More... Eastenders party girl Shona McGarty suspended from soap without pay following repeated lateness'Corrie scehdules are full-on. It's all or nothing and I had to face a choice between The Street or Mum. I love everything about Corrie but there could only be one answer.'
While Beverley's mother had Alheimer's, and therefore had tragically lost much of her mental faculties, Beverley said that it was the possibility that she might still know her daughter was near her which was so important.
Beverley suffered a breakdown around February 2009, having worked double time at Corrie and at the pub which she owned with her fourth husband Joe McEwan.
Chose her family: Beverley quit Corrie to care for her mother who was in the late stages of Alzheimer'sHit hard by the credit crunch and smoking ban, losses at the pub meant that the couple's debts grew out of control.
For a while the pair were reduced to borrowing cash off friends in order to afford the one meal per day they ate to survive.
At her lowest point, Beverly was unable to cover the cost of electric shock therapy for depression while in a psychiatric ward at The Priory in Altrincham.
Doctors had come to the conclusion that the treatment was the only option to snap Beverley out of the near-comatic state which she had reached.
The actress remembers little of that time, and relies on accounts from her husband and her children, Rebecca, 35, and Josh, 22.
She returned to work just six weeks after leaving hospital, her short-term memory still severely impaired from the shock therapy.
2010 and 2011 saw Beverley slip deep into depression, as it became increasingly clear that despite working enough to pay off her pub suppliers, it would be impossible to cover medical bills as well.
After being declared bankrupt- only weeks after her mother died.
She managed to keep afloat by living in a flat in Spain which she has owned for 15 years while renting her English home.
Still resilient, Beverly says that the experience has made herself and Jon closer as a couple.
