Sheridan Smith: Becoming Mum sees the star open up about the challenges of motherhood
Sheridan Smith: Becoming Mum is an eagerly-anticipated new ITV documentary where the hugely popular star talks about her pregnancy and mental health struggles.
The 39-year-old actress lost her beloved father, Colin, in 2016, which brought back painful memories of the death of her older brother Julian, from cancer, when she was just eight.
These tradegies brought on mental-health challenges for the actress, whose CV includes Cilla, Gavin and Stacey, The C Word and most recently, Isolation Stories.
More recently she met her fiance Jamie Horn in 2018 and in May this year she gave birth to their baby son, Billy.
Now, in Sheridan Smith: Becoming Mum, the star invites the cameras into her countryside home as she opens up about her battle with anxiety and depression.
She also reveals how motherhood has finally brought her happiness.
Sheridan Smith: Becoming Mum - when is it on ITV?
The documentary is on Tuesday 1st September at 9pm on ITV.
What happens in the documentary?
The cameras follow Sheridan as she attends her first scans, pre-natal classes and sessions with a specialist therapist.
As she prepares to be a mum, Sheridan talks extensively about her own mental health and she looks into what help is available for pregnant women and new mums. Talking about her excitement at becoming a mum, Sheridan says in the documentary: “Having a baby never crossed my mind until I met Jamie. I love him so much. He’s so brilliant. He’s going to be a great dad. I just hope I’m a good mum.”
Sheridan reveals that she will speak about things she’s never spoken before about in the film. “I wanted it to be an educational documentary, not a reality show. But yes, I speak about things I’ve never spoken about before, not even to my family or loved ones.
"There are things revealed that I’ve never felt it the right time to say, or I’ve been ashamed or embarrassed to say before. But I thought, ‘If I’m going on this journey for other women who feel like that, then I need to be completely honest about what’s also happened in my life.'”
Why did Sheridan make Sheridan Smith: Becoming Mum
Sheridan explains: “At first, the documentary was going to explore old wives’ tales about pregnancy. So I put a tweet out asking to be sent emails from anyone who had any worries about pregnancy. And every single email that I received mentioned mental-health worries.
"Even people who hadn’t had a mental-health issue were worried it would arise in pregnancy, and the people who had were worried it might rear its ugly head again. So having been through stuff myself, it seemed like the right thing to do to go and find what was out there to help these women.”
What support did Sheridan discover was out there for pregnant women with mental health worries?
Sheridan says: “Because of lockdown, I found out there was all this support online – antenatal classes and charities offering Zoom calls. I also spoke to vulnerable or struggling mums who were getting help from a community project run by other mums. I found it all very humbling.
"It really helped me personally and I just hope this documentary will help other women know what’s out there for them and know that they’re not alone. What I’ve learned is that the worst thing you can do is to close off. It’s OK not to be OK and to need help.”
Sheridan Smith: Becoming Mum is on Tuesday 1st September at 9.00pm on ITV
