Kate Ford, who plays Coronation Street siren Tracy Barlow, has admitted to living with obsessive compulsive disorder.
Kate talked openly about how the condition had affected her in the past – and how she still has to go through a check list with her husband, TV director Jon Connerty, every night before she can sleep.
She told The Mirror: "When I'm in Manchester I do this thing on the phone with Jon every single night, where I go through a check-list of things he needs to do before he goes to bed.
"I say, 'Have you checked the oven's off? Have you checked you've locked the back door? Is the car locked? Is the intercom on to hear Otis? Is the alarm on?' I do it every night - I've never missed. I have to do it. One time I couldn't get in touch with him and I couldn't get to sleep.
"Jon indulges me in it. He probably hates it and I don't know whether he's really checked or not, but he says yes! Now when I check things just once I feel I've done really well."
Ford's OCD was particularly bad in her twenties, before meeting her now husband, and she admits poor diet and boozing have an influence on her condition.
“If you're tired you're more prone to it,” she told the paper.
“I've had problems with anxiety and panic attacks in the past and if I'm not looking after myself, not getting enough exercise, eating the wrong things and drinking too much, I'm worse."
Kate added: "So I'm trying to swim two or three times a week and I don't eat junk food. I've never eaten a McDonald's in my life."
from entertainment.stv.tv
