The fallouts between the panellists of Loose Women – both on and off-screen – can be vicious. As for managing their ever-changing cliques? Nigh-on impossible.
It has taken a stern editor in Sally Shelford, the ITV show’s highly capable leader, to keep the stars in their respective lanes, something she has achieved with considerable diplomacy over the last ten years.
But what will happen now is anyone’s guess. For Sally’s role as editor, I can reveal, has been axed in the bloodbath that has ripped apart ITV’s daytime schedule as the channel desperately tries to save some cash.
I’m told she has been left ‘devastated’ by the decision, which will leave Vivek Sharma – who already edits This Morning and Lorraine – in the leadership role. And she’s not the only one to be upset.
In her wake, the show is said to be ‘in turmoil’ with some ‘very unhappy stars’ as it fights for survival 26 years after its highly-successful launch.
It has already emerged that Loose Women will now only be screened over 30 weeks of the year – after previously being filmed year-round.
But this, of course, means only one thing: the rifts that already exist between the women have become even more vicious than ever as panellists battle it out to keep their slots in the slimmed-down schedule.
During the last few months, since ITV announced that it would be cutting 220 jobs across its daytime programming, the tension has ramped up between Loose Women’s regular panellists as the realisation they were going to lose work has sunk in.
And while they maintain – publicly at least – that the Loose Women sisterhood is strong, I’m told that this is wide of the mark. Certainly, anyone stepping into Sally’s shoes will have their work cut out.
My source on the show says: ‘The show is in bits. So many of the panellists need to work on the show to pay the bills so they are facing some tough times. It’s a case of it being the survival of the fittest at the moment.
‘There are silos within the show – some despise one another, others are exceptionally close. These are desperate and worrying times. Sally was always there to manage the difficult situations – she knows the women well – but now she has gone there is nobody quite like her to do that.
‘She knows who will go on with who, and who won’t, but the bosses got rid of her job so she had no choice in the matter, she was out. It is going to be a nightmare for the person who takes over as they will be dealing with some very difficult situations.’
An ITV spokesman said: ‘After almost a decade at the helm of Loose Women, winning three Royal Television Society Awards, two BAFTA nominations, launching powerful campaigns and expanding the Loose brand with Loose Men, a successful podcast and a live nationwide tour, Sally feels the time is right to hand the Loose baton on. She will continue as Loose Women Editor until the New Year.’
Take Myleene Klass. She and former Saturdays singer Frankie Bridge are two favourites, but they rarely appear together because, for more than a decade, they have been embroiled in a bitter feud.
The pair fell out when Myleene split from her ex-husband Graham Quinn and Frankie supported him, along with her former Saturdays bandmate Rochelle Humes.
My source said: ‘Myleene and Frankie have not spoken in years and avoid each other like the plague. ITV avoid putting them on the Loose Women panel together.’
What also needs to be taken into account is Frankie’s apparent dislike of YouTube star GK Barry, who joined the show in August 2024.
Appearing alongside Denise Welch and Kaye Adams, they all joked that Frankie was no longer the youngest panellist. Talking about her own rise to fame on TikTok, where she has four million followers, GK said: ‘When I grew up I got no GCSEs because I was like, “I’ll just be Frankie.”’
Frankie, noticeably ruffled, pulled a face and retorted: ‘That felt like a backhanded compliment!’
The singer is said to rarely mix with her Loose Women co-stars away from the set. ‘Frankie is very showbizzy,’ says my Loose Women insider. ‘She has the ex-footballer husband, and projects the perfect family life on her social media. She mixes in very different social circles to the others who are frankly more down to earth.’
Elsewhere, Coleen Nolan is very close to Brenda Edwards, Judi Love, Janet Street Porter and Ruth Langsford, but she has fallen out with Denise and Nadia Sawalha in recent years.
While Coleen and Nadia have now appeared to put any lingering drama behind them and have sat on a handful of panels together, for a long time that could not happen.
Coleen would do the early part of the week and Nadia the end, part of an ongoing feud which led to Coleen’s then-agent, Melanie Blake, calling Nadia a ‘total witch’ on Twitter, now X.
Furious Nadia then unfollowed Coleen on social media, but – suggesting reparations have been made – both now follow each other again.
Coleen rubbed Denise up the wrong way in 2022 when Denise was trying to organise a social get-together for the Loose Women panellists. She was struggling to pin down a convenient date when Coleen told her on air she didn’t want to chat to her outside the show.
Coleen also wasn’t in the Loose Women WhatsApp group. ‘Coleen has been on the show a long time and there have been some difficulties,’ acknowledged my show insider, ‘but she also has some super close friendships.’
Another panellist who has ruffled some feathers since arriving on the show two years ago is former Love Island star Olivia Attwood. She demanded her own ‘glam squad’ and keeps her involvement with the other Loose Women to a minimum.
At last month’s National Television Awards she even walked the red carpet alone and posed on her own for photographers.
Her decision is, I’m told, ‘rather sensible’ as some of her co-stars (who I cannot name for legal reasons) say some deeply unpleasant things behind her back.
‘Some of the women absolutely despise her,’ says my source. ‘They think that she is all about promoting herself. She has become a bit of a “darling” at ITV with commissioners, and gets shows and documentaries that many of the Loose Women would love.
‘She has her own glam team when she appears on the panel and they think she gets special treatment. They also know that Olivia will most definitely still be very much in demand on the show.’
Christine Lampard is, like Olivia, likely to remain safe despite the cull. She was a firm favourite of Sally’s and is also said to be adored by ITV bosses. Others set to survive include Ruth Langsford, whose divorce from Eamonn Holmes is proving expensive, and Stacey Solomon.
There are tight friendships, as well as rivalries, to consider. Stacey is close to Nadia, who in turn is best friends with Kay and Jane Moore. Jane, meanwhile, is close to Myleene while Charlene White and Judi are said to ‘adore each other’.
It is all, suffice to say, a very complicated mission to fill Sally Shelford’s shoes. And the big question is what it will ultimately mean for the long-running show.
‘It’s virtually impossible to navigate all of these relationships,’ says my source. ‘There is even talk right now about how long Loose Women will be with us for. Things are a nightmare.’
