Weekdays 12.30pm

Adam Rickitt on his mental health journey: 'Once I'd been through the wringer, I came out stronger than ever before'

Adam Rickitt told the Loose Women that his own experience with mental health issues really helped him to prepare for his devastating Hollyoaks storyline.

Adam, who plays Kyle Kelly, shared the story of his journey with anxiety and depression from the ages of 13 to 30.

"For 17 years of my life I was essentially suicidal," he explained. "It comes in peaks and waves like it does for so many people, but still to this day the best portion of my adult life was spent suicidal."

Adam, who shot to fame as a teenager on Coronation Street playing Nick Tilsley, said that it wasn't until his 30th birthday that he realised he had turned a corner.

"I was actually living in New Zealand, working on a TV show out there, and my mum rang me on my 30th birthday and she said, ‘What are you doing on your birthday?’ and I just burst into tears," he recalled.

"And it was because I was just sat on my deck just reading a book. And it was the first time since I was 13-years-old that I’d been able to be at peace in my own mind enough to actually just sit there and do nothing."

"'Once I'd been through the wringer, I came out stronger than ever before," he added, while speaking about taking his experience and applying it when it came to tackling his Hollyoaks mental health storyline.

Watch the chat - and hear Adam's advice for those who are going through a similar experience - in the video above. You can also catch the full interview on the ITV Hub.

If you've been affected by any of the issues raised you can find helplines and more information here.

Watch Loose Women weekdays from 12.30pm on ITV, STV and the ITV Hub. And keep up with all the best bits on our YouTube channel.

Weekdays 12.30pm