Andrea McLean had nervous breakdown last year

Andrea McLean has revealed she had a nervous breakdown last year.

The 50-year-old presenter admitted she is relieved that the current coronavirus pandemic - which has left the UK in lockdown - didn\'t happen last year as she was in a "dark place".

Speaking on today\'s (04.05.20) episode of ITV\'s \'Loose Women\', she said: "If this had happened last year, I would have been in big trouble, because last year, as you guys know, I was in a really dark place.

"I had a breakdown last year, which is not something I\'ve necessarily spoken about, but I did.

"If it had happened then, it would have been horrendous, but I worked on myself so hard and had so much help and so much support."

Andrea explained that overcoming her mental health struggles left her feeling "chilled" about the ongoing lockdown situation.

She explained: "When it happened, we\'d already started calming our life down and taking things out that were causing stress.

"I was in a really great place mentally, I\'d had therapy, so I was quite chilled."

\'Loose Women\' returned to screens on Monday after a six week absence due to health crisis and Andrea admitted that family life with husband Nick Feeney had helped her keep a routine during lockdown.

She said: "I get up, get my kids up and make breakfast, I meditate every day, I exercise every morning.

"When I\'m not here me and Nick run our own business so having that structure really has helped otherwise the days would roll into one."

Andrea\'s fellow panellist Nadia Sawalha revealed she had felt anxious during the first week of lockdown.

She explained: "In the first week, I was in a really bad way because my dad had a heart operation and I was really nervous about that."

Nadia, 55, added that news about the virus depressed her and she went "really downhill really quickly" and felt "completely hopeless".