Actress Reveals She Spent 5 Weeks in Mental Health Facility After Hitting ‘Absolute Rock Bottom’

Coronation Street star Lucy Fallon is getting candid about a chapter of her life she says nearly broke her.

The actress, who plays Bethany Platt on the long-running ITV soap, revealed on the Secure the Insecure podcast that she spent five weeks in a psychiatric hospital after hitting what she described as “absolute rock bottom” during the COVID lockdowns.

Fallon said she has struggled with insecurity from a young age, but things spiraled after she left Coronation Street the first time and work slowed down during the pandemic.

“I was just at the absolute rock bottom that I’ve ever, ever felt,” she said. “And I really, really, really struggled.”

By the end of 2020, she said her mental health had deteriorated so badly that she was admitted to a private psychiatric facility.

“I couldn’t see a way out of feeling how I was feeling,” Fallon explained. “It almost felt like other people were telling me, ‘You need some serious help now. It’s gone a bit too far.’”

She admitted she didn’t want to go.

“I remember getting there. I really, really did not want to go in,” she said.

At first, the experience felt strange and overwhelming. But over time, Fallon said she adjusted and began to appreciate the structure and support. She was placed on medication and slowly began to rebuild.

Leaving the hospital wasn’t easy either. Fallon temporarily moved back in with her parents and said it took time to find her footing again.

Looking back now, she describes that period as feeling like “a completely different life.”

“I feel like that was a totally different version of me,” she said. “I’ve been lucky enough to say that I did manage to get myself out of it, because I know for so many people that’s not the reality.”

Fallon credits her fiancé, soccer player Ryan Ledson, with helping her turn a new page. The couple now share two children — son Sonny, 3, and daughter Nancy, 13 months — and she says becoming a mom reshaped her outlook.

She also opened up about suffering a miscarriage in early 2022, a painful experience that tested her mental health again. But she says welcoming her son later helped her find perspective.

“If that hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t have Sonny,” she said. “Even though it was horrendous, it almost showed me how much I wanted that to be the next chapter in my life.”

Today, Fallon says she’s in a much healthier place, even if life still feels overwhelming at times.

“Even though I’m so appreciative, I get overwhelmed,” she admitted. “Sometimes I’ll wake up and think, how am I supposed to look after two children all day? I’m scared, even though they’re my children.”

Still, she says she feels content overall.

“Generally, I feel like I’ve got myself together.”