Coronation Street star Samia Longchambon says she has discovered one upside to the ongoing coronavirus crisis – her crippling anxiety has been calmed by lockdown.
The 37-year-old soap actress has openly discussed her struggles with anxiety in the past, and says the slowed down nature of daily life has helped her feel more at ease.
Samia is on lockdown with her family – she is married to 39-year-old Dancing On Ice skating professional Sylvain and is mother to their son, four-year-old Yves, and has a ten-year-old daughter named Freya from a previous relationship.
And having played Maria Connor on Corrie for almost 20 years, the TV star says she is enjoying life with her immediate family and taking time out away from the cobbles.
Samia told The Sun: “I’ve always preferred a night in to a night out. It takes a lot to get me out to a party, so I was fine with the thought of staying at home.
“But the biggest impact has been on my anxiety, which I have really, really struggled with for a long time.”
The soap star says that removing the stress of attending high profile events has helped her feel more calm.
She said: “I’ve found it’s finally eased while being on lockdown. I’ve had social anxiety most of my life which has been very challenging. But I’ve found that now everyone has had to slow down and I don’t have that pressure to attend social events. The bustle of life has lifted.”
She also said that undertaking daily yoga sessions and attending web seminars about anxiety has also helped her feel calm.
There are concerns that Coronation Street will run out of new episodes by July after filming was halted in March due to the COVID-19 virus outbreak.
Show bosses have revealed, however, that a storyline about the coronavirus crisis will feature on the soap when production resumes, with plans for storylines to reflect the current pandemic.
Speaking to the Mirror Online and other news outlets on Wednesday, producer Iain MacLeod revealed that they had considered continuing to film the soap in "parallel universe".
He said: "Ultimately what I thought was the Coronation Street that we love is the one that reflects modern Britain, albeit in a more heightened way sometimes, and it felt that if there was no coronavirus in Coronation Street it would stop being a reflection of modern Britain and would instead a parallel fantasy land. So we took the view that it has to exist in our world.”
