Coleen Nolan addresses son Shane’s addiction after ‘years of crying’

Coleen Nolan opened up about her son Shane’s addiction after ‘years of crying’ – and admitted that she was urged to ‘kick him out of the family home’ when he hit rock bottom while on Friday’s episode of Good Morning Britain. 

The 60-year-old, who is a panellist on Loose Women, appeared on the ITV show to talk about her upcoming farm documentary on YouTube. 

Presenter Kate Garraway, 58, touched upon how Coleen is going on a ‘tell all’ UK tour with her son Shane Jnr, 36, who she shares with ex-husband Shane Ritchie, 61, early next year. 

This led Kate’s co-host Rob Rinder, 47, to point out how brave it was for Shane Jnr to open up about his drug addiction earlier this year.  

Coleen said: ‘It was Shane’s decision. It would never have been me forcing him to talk about it. 

‘He thought it was important to talk about, especially during men’s mental health month and all of that.

‘When he did it, we were both nervous. I was quite emotional, because it’s really hard as a parent or relative to watch an addict. 

‘It was years of me crying because I couldn’t do anything. I’m his mum and I couldn’t do anything.’

Kate said: ‘Coleen, that must be so heartbreaking because your instinct is that you want to wrap them up, whatever age.’

Coleen replied: ‘Exactly. People were like “You’re going to have to kick him out”… He’s my child.

‘I kept making excuses for him… “No, no, it’s just because he’s tired.”

‘Then something major happened, where he ended up with stitches in his head and all of that, and that was a massive wake up call.

‘But talking about it afterwards, he said to me, “Mum, I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.”‘

She added: ‘I felt like a terrible mother. I thought it was my fault. I’d done things wrong.

‘I couldn’t help him and it was nothing to do with me, he’s an addict. 

‘The only person that could have helped him was himself, and he did.’

Speaking about his addiction in a YouTube video posted to Coleen’s page, Shane explained why he ended up turning to drugs.

Shane said: ‘The constant moving, the travelling all of the time, having to be on stage until 11 o’clock at night, so the only way to pick yourself up is to [do drugs].  

‘I’d have a three day bender but I wasn’t [doing drugs] Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

‘It probably would have got to that. I was splitting up, I was going through a tough time work wise, I didn’t know what I wanted to do.’

Shane Jnr went to rehab and turned his life around.

He recently welcomed son Cruz-Carter into the world with his partner Kimberley Sallis. 

Shane is also dad to a daughter from a previous relationship.  

Recalling a terrifying time in the past, Coleen said on the YouTube video: ‘I remember when the time came that you passed out and split your head open early in the morning. 

‘He split his head open and got eight staples, or whatever it is, in his head.

‘That was my breaking point, if this doesn’t wake him up, he will… I kept saying, “He’s going to die.”‘

Coleen and ex EastEnders legend Shane also share a son called Jake, 33.

The pair were married between 1990 and 1999. 

Coleen and ex Ray Fensome also share a daughter called Ciara, 24. 

It comes after Coleen revealed that her five-week old grandson was rushed to A&E in a frightening hospital dash on Thursday’s episode of the ITV show.  

She said: ‘My son only in the last couple of days, it’s [flu] hit him and he had a temperature of 102.

‘Because they have Cruz, who is only five weeks old, his temperature started to go up so they rushed him to A&E and then all of a sudden it starts to become a reality.’

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1 and is available to stream on ITVX.