Denise Welch sparks concern as she pulls out of hosting her own ball AND pantomime at last minute
DENISE Welch has sparked concern as she pulled out of hosting her own ball AND pantomime at last minute.
The 66-year-old’s annual charity ball, in aid of GEM Appeal, was held at the Kimpton Clocktower Hotle in Manchester on Saturday evening.
The event, which followed a Mama Mia theme this year, has been running for 23 years and a number of huge names gathered at the event to raise money for Rochdale charity.
Some of the famous faces included Sally and Hattie Dynevor, William Roach and Sue Cleaver.
However Denise wasn’t in attendance.
Jenny Powell hosted the event and explained to guests why the Loose Women star wasn’t there.
She said: “It’s been 30 years for the Gem Appeal and 23 years of the Gem Appeal ball – and for all those 23 years our golden girl, our wonderfully, beautifully talented, our great energy who touches us all, Denise Welch, she’s been here for every single one of those balls.
“She’s been a great advocate for this appeal, but also, she’s brought together so many people through this charity and she’s raised such a huge profile for it too, raised huge amounts of money and without her I don’t know where any of us would be on nights like tonight.
“Now she’s also a huge advocate for mental health, and through her own mental health issues this evening unfortunately her doctors have said she cannot be here tonight.
“She’s absolutely devastated, as we all are, it’s been quite upsetting for all of us today.”
It comes just days after it was revealed that Denise had to pull out of her pantomime role too.
The soap star was due to appear in Peter Pan as Captain Hook at the Nottingham Theatre Royal and will now be replaced by Richard Winsor.
The show runs from December 7 until January 12.
Other stars in the line-up include Gok Wan, Paul Chuckle and Steve Hewlett.
However the theatre released a statement which said: “Attending Peter Pan this year? We’re sorry to announce that Denise Welch will no longer be performing in this year’s pantomime due to ill health.
“We send Denise our warmest wishes, and hope she feels better very soon.”
“We send Denise our warmest wishes, and hope she feels better very soon.“
Denise has not spoken out publicly about what has happened.
Last month Denise opened up about her mental health.
During the episode, there was a short segment titled ‘Denise on her recent mental health.’
The brave star said: “I’ve had a really rough couple of weeks which I’m still in a bit.
“I’d just done a podcast saying I’d been free for five years from clinical depression and that I hoped that something that happened when I had a baby had reversed.
“But sadly the unwelcome visitor paid me an unwelcome visit and so I’ve not been well for a couple of weeks.”
Denise, who has battled with depression for over 30 years, continued: “The reason why I’m glad we’ve alluded to it is because we do all of things like Britain Get Talking and sometimes people still find that it isn’t always good to talk.
“So I just wanted to come on here because what I need when I’m poorly is for my friends to just know that I need time to get well.
“I need for the people that I work with like yourselves and like our wonderful production team to say ‘if you want to come to work come to work.”
“And if I don’t, like last week I didn’t come to work, because I know my illness more than anyone.”