Former EastEnders actress Rita Simons has opened up about her struggles with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and has revealed that it is something she has battling since she was just three years old. The I'm A Celebrity star appeared on Lorraine on Wednesday morning, and revealed: "From the age of about three I was, I guess you'd call it a 'worrier.' I used to have obsessive compulsive behaviours, but I didn't realise until I was older that's what it was. A lot of people with OCD have a thing that they worry about, mine was that everyone was going to die. I would walk around with my grandparents' address in my back pocket all the time, in case everybody died. I would do rituals and all sorts of things, in order to stop them dying."
Rita Simons has spoken out about her OCD struggle
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After an incident as a teenager, Rita's mum advised her to get help. The turning point came when the mother-of-two was 14, and she got stuck checking the mirror. She explained: "When I was 14 I got stuck checking the mirror, for I don't know how long, but my mum found me in a heap hyper-ventilating because I just wanted to get out of this mirror. And she said 'Okay, I think we need to get some help for you,' and we went and saw a Professor of Psychology, who to this day, I still speak to regularly."
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The star still struggles with OCD as an adult, and admitted last year that she is battling OCD, ADHD, anxiety and insomnia, which has made it difficult for her to sleep. Chatting to The Daily Star in July, she said: "I suffer with a million 'isms', including ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). I also have really bad insomnia. The worst is when I can’t sleep at all and I’m up all night." The star added: "Some nights I’m awake just staring at the wall. I don’t even watch TV or listen to music. It is awful. It is like torture. Sometimes it feels like I don’t sleep for days. It’s horrible."
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