Denise Welch defends book confessions

Denise Welch has defended her candid autobiography confessions, insisting that she was merely being honest when she wrote the book.

The actress's new release Pulling Myself Together sees her open up over a long battle with clinical depression and confess that she used cocaine during her time on ITV soap Coronation Street.

Speaking on This Morning about the public response to her book, Welch conceded: "It's proved to be quite controversial."

However, she continued: "I'm nothing if not open - especially on programmes like Loose Women, which has given me the sort of profile where people can speculate on your life. Obviously all of us - all of the girls - are quite pleased that we still are on the covers of magazines.

"In fact, one of my favourite quotes was something like, 'Are Denise Welch, Jane McDonald and Coleen Nolan becoming the Kate, Sienna and Jordan of the old birds?' You do have to embrace these magazine stories.

"On a more serious level, when I was approached to do this, initially I was going to write a book about my battle with clinical depression. As I started to write, I realised that I couldn't really write about my condition without leading the reader down the dark paths that it took me to."

Welch also dismissed claims that her confessions will have shocked her family. She explained: "People have said to me, 'Did your family know about the book?' Of course they knew about it, they've all sanctioned it."