Simon Gregson discusses anxiety battle on Lorraine
Coronation Street’s Steve McDonald (played by Simon Gregson) has become an icon on the ITV soap since he first arrived on the cobbles in 1989.
He has had turbulent relationships, owned the Rovers Return, started a cab company and recently helped daughter Amy Barlow (Elle Mulvany) after being raped by Aaron Sandford (James Craven).
Outside of his time on the ITV soap, Simon also starred on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! alongside his Emmerdale and EastEnders co-stars.
Simon recently opened up about the challenge he has faced over the last couple of years with his anxiety, which saw him take six months out of work.
Express.co.uk has taken a look inside Simon Gregson’s life from his recent mental health admission and his bizarre feud with Liam Gallagher.
Coronation Street
Steve first arrived in Weatherfield in 1989 after moving from army lodgings with his parents Jim McDonald (Charles Lawson), Liz McDonald (Beverly Callard) and twin brother Andy McDonald (Nicholas Cochrane).
He started out as a family failure, impetuous, reckless, and a liar, and was always in trouble, doing a prison stint a year after moving to the cobbles for handling stolen goods.
His first wife Vicky Arden (Chloe Newsome), whom he’d married for her money, left him when he tried to pin the blame on her.
In 2000, Steve set up Street Cars with Vikram Desai (Chris Bisson) and the following year, he married Karen Phillips (Suranne Jones) for a bet but they fell in love.
Their wedding was gatecrashed by Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford), who announced to the guests that Steve was her baby daughter Amy’s father, conceived while Steve was separated from Karen.
Karen married Steve regardless and they tried to make their marriage work, but her battles with Tracy eventually proved too much for Steve and he threw her out.
After his divorce from Karen, he waged war against Tracy for access to Amy, but only gained custody when Tracy was sent to prison for murdering Charlie Stubbs (Bill Ward).
In 2009, he gave up a stable life with Michelle Connor (Kym Marsh) to marry Becky Granger (Katherine Kelly), but their relationship was also wrecked by Tracy.
Tracy finally got her wish and married Steve in 2012, but Steve dumped her at the reception, coming to his senses after Becky proved that Tracy had lied about her recent miscarriage being caused by Becky pushing her down the stairs.
After a turbulent year of debt and divorce, Steve slept with Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson) and both Michelle and Leanne became pregnant with his children.
Michelle lost their son Ruairi in a late miscarriage, while Leanne successfully gave birth to Oliver Battersby (Emmanuel & Jeremiah Cheetham).
When Steve confessed that he was Oliver’s father to Michelle, she demanded a divorce from him.
Following a reconciliation, Steve married Tracy and currently lives at 1 Coronation Street with Tracy, Ken Barlow (William Roache), and Amy.
Recent years have seen him experience both heartbreak and joy as his son Oliver tragically died from a rare form of mitochondrial disease at age three, and he has met and bonded with Emma Brooker (Alexandra Mardell), his daughter with ex-girlfriend Fiona Middleton (Angela Griffin).
I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! stint
Simon starred in the 2021 series of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! when the series had to move from Australia to Gwrych Castle in Wales.
The Corrie star placed second in the ITV reality series, with Emmerdale star Danny Miller being crowned King of the castle.
Just days before the final, the pair faced a Christmas-themed challenge, Santa’s Grotty Grotto, which saw them rummaging around in sacks of rotten vegetables and fermented eggnog before decorating a tree and drinking fish-eye shots.
They earned seven out of a possible eight stars for camp, winning partridge for dinner, but the star had to bow out of the trial the next day.
Host Declan Donnelly said: “Time for a very important challenge now and at stake was a chance to spend an evening at the Castle Inn – the Castle’s very own pub.”
Ant McParltin continued: “This one involved all the celebrities except for Simon who was suffering from an upset stomach. Maybe it was something he ate at yesterday’s trial.”
Dec quipped: “I don’t know… he sucks the juice out of a few fish eyes, spits it in a sherry glass, and downs it in one and the next thing you know he’s not well.
“He’s a delicate little flower, Simon Gregson,” Ant added as Dec said: “Give over.”
Mental Health admission
Despite being the loveable character on Coronation Street, Simon recently opened up about his battle with anxiety over the years.
He shared the “debilitating” symptoms he suffered as he discussed his mental health struggle, and discussed his recovery with ITV’s Lorraine Kelly.
He expained: “It’s an awful disorder. When it was at its worse, my little finger would go completely numb, my face would go numb, I’d get tunnel vision.
“You can’t bring yourself out [from yourself]. You feel dizzy, sick, your heart feels like it’s coming out of your chest. It’s completely debilitating.”
“It came to a head when I called my boss in the car and told him I couldn’t get off the drive. I went to go and see the GP and then ITV brought a doctor in.”
Lorraine interjected and said: “Did they? I was going to say that about Corrie they are your second family and have been really supportive?”
He revealed: “They have been brilliant. They got this amazing doctor in who works with the Royal Navy and the Royal family and he was lovely. He went, ‘Six months off, this is crazy’.
“It can happen to anyone in any walk of life. It’s completely invisible. My goal is to talk about it and highlight it.”
Liam Gallagher feud
Back in June 2021, former Oasis front-man Liam Gallagher revealed he clashed with Simon Gregson outside the Coronation Street studios.
The band were making their television debut at the time of the incident, with their hit song Take Me featuring on the soap.
Liam previously told The Sun: “The guy who is in Coronation Street, Steve McDonald, I was walking down the road with my jacket on and he’s come out and he’s staring at me and I’m staring at him and he’s giving me looks back and I’ve gone, ‘What you f****g looking at?”
“And he’s wound down his window and flipped the bird at me and then I’ve chased him down the road. And he wound his window up and drove off and I kept catching him at lights.”
While Simon has pledged to have a pint with Liam, it doesn’t seem as if he’s been taken up on the offer yet.
Wife’s spat with co-star
Soap actors often refer to their co-stars as their “family” but it seemed Simon’s wife didn’t get along with them all at one point.
His wife Emma Gleave, who he married in 2010 and shares their three sons, hit out at Sally Ann Matthews, who plays Jenny Connor after she told a fan that autographs from the soap stars should be free.
Simon sells video messages to fans online, and his wife quickly leapt to his defence on social media, when Sally wrote in response to a fan: “Write to us at Trafford Wharf Road. We do them for free!
“You should never pay for an autograph (or a video message come to that) x.” (sic)
Emma responded: “Wow!!!! Nothing like sticking together with your work colleagues!” before adding in a tweet she later deleted: “Grow a set of balls and tell ur cast members ur opinion.”
Sally didn’t publicly respond to the message.
Coronation Street airs Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
Source: Read Full Article
