Sheridan Smith gushed about motherhood during an appearance on Tuesday’s edition of This Morning.
The actress, 39, welcomed son Billy in May, and admitted she ‘was looking for things in the wrong places’ as she discussed having a child, and said it was the ‘best thing’ to ever happen to her.
Speaking in delight, Sheridan told Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield: ‘He’s amazing, but I’m biased. He’s gorgeous.
‘I was looking for things in the wrong places’: Sheridan Smith gushed about motherhood as she said son Billy was the ‘best thing’ to happen to her on Tuesday’s This Morning
‘He’s just the cutest thing. When you look at him, when you look at your baby in the eyes and that unconditional love, it’s a bond like no other and I don’t know, maybe I’ve been looking for things in the wrong places all of my life?
‘Now this little boy is what makes me want to be the best mum and make him proud. He’s just amazing.
‘He’s smiling now, which is just the best thing in the world, because it’s like, “You love me back!”‘
Doting mum: Speaking in delight, Sheridan told Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield: ‘He’s amazing, but I’m biased. He’s gorgeous. He’s the cutest thing’
Sheridan also went on to talk about her fiancé, as she shared her gratitude over how Jamie Horn helps support her during her mental health battle
‘It’s often hard and partly overlooked on the family and friends of people suffering with mental health, and Jamie had never experienced it before but was reading up on it and now knows me better than I know myself.
‘He can see if I’m getting anxious, like this morning before doing this, and he just knows how to calm me down and talk me off the ledge a bit, just keeps me calm, so it’s just amazing that I’ve got such support in him.
‘I never saw myself having a child to be honest, until I met Jamie and now, oh my goodness, it’s the best thing in the world!’
Sheridan had made a documentary on her journey to motherhood in Sheridan Smith: Becoming Mum for ITV, where she candidly discusses her mental health battle during her pregnancy.
The Cilla star said of why she wanted to help others: ‘I think when you’ve had mental health issues in the past you worry that it’s going to appear again suddenly in pregnancy and I think that was most women’s response to the tweet I put out.
‘And I didn’t know what was out there and you always feel quite ashamed to say it, especially when you’re pregnant, I think, when you’re going to be a mum.
‘You feel like a bad mum. How can you be having these thoughts? And so we went on this journey and met the most amazing people.
‘At this charity in Derbyshire called Ripples, where women volunteer to help women who leave hospital who need extra help.
‘So many people are out there that really want to help, but it’s such a scary thing to ask for help.’
Sheridan added: ‘In the documentary, I do say some things that I hadn’t even told my loved ones, because I thought it was important that I be honest for the first time, if I’m going to help others.
‘It was pretty scary, but the journey was incredible and the people I met along the way were amazing, and I just hope it helps some expectant mums or new mums out there.’
Sheridan also explained that during her pregnancy she was concerned about continuing to take her anti-anxiety medication and stopped them for a time out of fear she’d harm her baby.
She explained: ‘I stupidly thought I’ll stop them, because it’ll harm the baby and then I started having panic attacks again, and my mental health started declining.
There are a lot of people who are against taking medication for mental health issues but for me it’s important that I’m on them.’
Sheridan has been incredibly open about her struggles with mental health following the death of her father Colin in 2016.
And she claimed her breakdown at the time was ‘a long time coming’ as she referred to having her first panic attack during the final week of Legally Blonde ten years ago.
‘It kind of spiralled from there really,’ she explained. ‘Definitely, losing my dad was the big explosion mentally.’
In her documentary, Sheridan revealed she was rushed to hospital and had five seizures after she stopped taking anti-anxiety medication back in 2016 following a jibe Graham Norton made about her.
She admitted she felt ‘humiliated’ after TV BAFTAs host Norton made a joke about her ‘being drunk’ during the ceremony.
In a clip from the show aired last week, she said: ‘That night I took myself off to a hotel on my own. In my crazy mind, I thought, ‘I’ll do it (stop taking the tablets) myself’.
‘I went there and just stopped my tablets. Weirdly, a friend of mine had rung me and she came to the hotel.
‘It’s a miracle she did. It’s like someone was looking out for me because what I didn’t realise is that if you stop these tablets abruptly, you seizure.
‘I seizured five times and got rushed to A&E and she’s the one who got me breathing again.’
However Sheridan clarified during her This Morning appearance that Graham’s joke was simply the final straw in her lengthy struggle with her mental health.
‘I know there’s been a lot of reports of the night of the BAFTAs, it was probably the straw that broke the camel’s back that night, but it wasn’t the reason,’ she said.
‘It was no one’s fault, I was just in a bit of a decline at the time. Thankfully, I’ve got myself back on the road to recovery and now I have a baby and am very happy.’
Sheridan Smith: Becoming Mum airs on Tuesday September 1 at 9pm on ITV.