'Life felt like hell every day' Martine McCutcheon opens up about the seven years she suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome and depression
By
Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 13:22, 22 September 2013
Former EastEnders actress and Love Actually star Martine McCutcheon has opened up about the seven years of her life she has lost to illness, depression and financial hardship.
The 37-year-old was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome ME some 18 months ago after she was confined to a wheelchair, sank into depression and stayed at home for a month because she did not want to see anyone.
Martine, who sprang to fame aged 18 playing Tiffany Mitchell in the BBC soap opera, told how she collapsed 20 times and piled on weight as medics were baffled by her condition...
...She said that while filming ITV dramas Marple and Echo Beach she started having trouble keeping up with her schedules, nodding off in filming breaks with producers struggling to wake her.
While medics were puzzled about the cause of Martine’s illness, the actress continued to collapse and recounts that she fainted more than 20 times.
She also saw her weight increase by two stone to 11 and a half stone, which she says added to her depression...
Martine adds: ’I want to give hope to ME sufferers, even people who don’t know what they have got. I want them to know that they are not going mad and that they can get better. You can live a normal and good life again.’