Nolan opens up about teenage abortion

Coleen Nolan has revealed that she fell pregnant and underwent an abortion at the age of 16.

The Loose Women presenter and mother-of-three wrote in her autobiography Upfront & Personal that she could have a 28-year-old child by now.

The 44-year-old said that she could not see any alternative at the time, explaining: "I was barely 16 and had joined my sisters in the group The Nolans.

"We'd had smash hit singles, sell-out UK and Japanese tours and had this goody-goody Von Trapp image. There was no way the youngest Nolan could be caught up in a baby scandal."

Nolan said that the father was the band's keyboard player Robin Smith, who she had lost her virginity to and who supported her throughout the ordeal.

However, she revealed that her emotions spiralled while awaiting the operation. "In those days only bad girls got pregnant and I suddenly felt very ashamed. The floodgates opened and I sobbed my heart out," she said. "That night Mum kept coming upstairs and asking if I was all right. I never told her the truth."

Extracs from the book, to be published by PanMacmillan on May 1, are being serialised in The Mirror this week.