Denise Welch has announced she’s leaving Loose Women after 25 years.
The Coronation Street star, 68, shared she’s decided to step down from the ITV show to focus on her acting work, having been offered a string of roles in recent months.
Denise first appeared on Loose Women in 2000, before becoming one of the show’s most recognisable faces. Her last appearance on the show was on June 29.
In a video on Instagram, Denise shared she had decided to step down so she could focus on the ‘wonderful opportunities’ she’d been given.
Paying tribute to her fellow panellists, Denise said she would remain friends with ‘all’ of her co-stars, and insisted that despite claims of behind-the-scenes tensions, they were a ‘happy band of campers’.
Denise recently starred in the Channel 4 drama Tip Toe, and is also set to star in an adaptation of Graham Norton‘s novel Forever Home.
Denise Welch has announced she’s leaving Loose Women after 25 years, telling her followers in an Instagram video she was stepping down to focus on her acting work
The Coronation Street star first appeared on Loose Women as a guest panellist in 1999 (pictured during her last appearance on the show in June)
Sharing news of her departure, Denise said: ‘I’m leaving Loose Women.
‘After best part of 25 years, off and on, I did leave for about seven years and went back in 2018. This show has been a part of me and my family’s life for nearly a quarter of a century.
‘I have the most wonderful, wonderful memories and it’s just that acting has always been my first love and I think the thing I’m best at, and at the moment I’m having the most wonderful opportunities coming my way.
‘I’m grabbing them by the you know whats and running with it for this new chapter of my life.
‘So I just wanted to say that in person to thank all of the people who have shared my stories with me, I’ve shared my life with you, the good, the bad and the ugly.
‘I’m very Marmite, but I cherish all the comments good or bad that I’ve had over the years and I just hope you wish me well for this new and exciting chapter in my life.
‘I’ll miss everybody but I will remain friends with the whole gang because… we are a happy band of campers. Anyway lots of love, thanks for sticking with me.’
A spokesman for Loose Women said: ‘Denise has been such a brilliant part of the Loose Women family and we are going to miss her hugely on the show.
In a video on Instagram, Denise shared she had decided to step down so she could focus on the ‘wonderful opportunities’ she’d been given (pictured on Loose Women in 2006)
‘We are sending her all of our love and best wishes for her next chapter.’
Despite sharing plans to appear in a string of new dramas, Denise was recently been mingling with some of Hollywood’s finest.
As well as meeting stars at her son Matty Healy’s wedding, the star’s husband, artist Lincoln Townley is pals with stars including Michael Caine and Tom Cruise.
Both Denise and Lincoln have spoken openly about their struggles with alcohol addiction, yet it was through their relationship that they made a pact to embrace sobriety together.
Since then, Lincoln’s career has gone from strength to strength, with Sir Michael Caine hailing him the next Andy Warhol and selling millions of pounds worth of art.
Denise tied the knot with Lincoln in 2013, and was previously married to actor Tim Healy from 1988 to 2012. They share sons Matty, 37, and Louis, 25.
Denise Welch was a huge hit on Loose Women, but her string of opinionated rants divided opinion over the years.
Last year she took aim at her son Matty‘s ex-girlfriend Taylor Swift during an appearance on Bravo TV’s Watch What Happens Live.
Denise seemed to accuse Taylor’s fans of lashing out at anyone who dares to criticise the hitmaker, despite the pop star taking personal digs at her exes in her songs.
When answering a question about her reaction to the The Tortured Poets Department album, Welch replied: ‘Obviously, on pain of death can I talk about that episode, but being her mother-in-law is a role that I am glad that I lost.’
Elsewhere, Denise has clashed with many of her Loose Woman co-stars over the years, including Kaye Adams and Stacey Solomon.
Her most famous rants have been about Covid-19 restrictions, Matt Hancock entering I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
Denise made a not-so-subtle dig about her ‘younger’ co-stars on Loose Women following an on-air row with fellow panellist Stacey Solomon.
Denise and Stacey, 36, came to blows during a live episode which the actress later insisted wasn’t a feud between the pair.
Speaking on Olivia Attwood’s podcast, So Wrong It’s Right, she said: ‘I’m always happy to have new blood on because we do get bored of each other.
‘But I’ve always been sceptical when younger people come in because, sometimes, they may have a great life story but they are either not prepared to talk about it yet, or are too worried about what the public are going to say.’
Revealing the backstage discussions, and added: ‘So they’ll be in a meeting saying “I’m not going to talk about that,” and it’s kind of like, “what are you gonna talk about then?”
During the debate, Stacey jumped to the defence of people who have been working from home since the Covid pandemic.
But Denise felt that the country was ‘grinding to a halt’ because staff had ‘disappeared’ from the workplace.
Stacey replied: ‘They don’t disappear because they’re working from home,’ but Denise insisted: ‘But, where are they Stace?’
Stacey continued by saying the pandemic proved how many people were able to do an ‘adequate if not better job from home’.
The duo failed to come to an agreement on the dispute, with viewers noting the palpable tension from home.
In June 2021, Denise also had a furious row with Gloria Hunniford over Covid-19 restrictions shortly after the height of the pandemic.
Denise criticised the ‘double standards’ of the UK government after being unable to travel in an ambulance with her elderly father, who passed away in September 2021.
Denise and Kaye Adams also locked horns during a fiery exchange, as they debated whether the public should still follow Covid restrictions after Matt Hancock was caught breaking them himself.
She and Jane Moore also locked horns in a heated row about Prince Harry, with the former soap furiously defending Harry declaring herself ‘team Harry and Meghan’ but was met by resistance from Jane who described his accusations as ‘hurtful’.
Last year, ITV announced that Lorraine and Loose Women will only air for 30 weeks a year rather than 52, resulting in more than 220 of 440 staff involved losing their jobs.
Due to the cuts, Loose Women has been on a break for the summer since July 17, and will return in September.
Under the plans, production of Good Morning Britain will be handled by a dedicated team at ITV News, which is made by ITN, the company that also holds the contracts to produce the news for Channel 4 and Channel 5.
Further cutbacks mean that Susanna Reid has lost her own dedicated hairdresser, and no longer gets as much attention from the remaining hair and make-up artists as she once did, as Good Morning Britain staff now have to share their backstage resources with ITV News.
Previously all daytime TV shows were shot at the sizeable Television Centre in White City, and the reduced space is said to be causing issues off-camera.
A source told the Daily Mail: ”It’s incredibly chaotic behind the scenes. The space for all three shows – Loose Women, This Morning and Lorraine – is downstairs in the basement so three different sets are all crammed into one place.
‘Backstage the dressing rooms are limited. There just isn’t enough space, especially when there are four women getting ready to be in front of the camera at the same time.
‘It’s not an ideal situation at all. There have been some meltdowns.’
