Coleen Nolan shares struggle with Father's Day because of her abusive dad

19 June 2023 , 12:21

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Coleen Nolan shares struggle with Father's Day because of her abusive dad

Coleen Nolan has admitted she struggles with Father's Day after finding out her father had abused her older sister.

The Loose Women star, 58, bravely opened up about feeling conflicted during the annual celebration because of her dad's behaviour.

Coleen, the youngest of eight children, only discovered in her mid-20s that her father, Tommy, abused Anne, who went public about what happened after he died.

When asked today by Ruth Langsford how she felt about Tommy, who died in 1998, Coleen said: "It's hard for me to celebrate Father's Day because I feel guilty if I don't and guilty if I do because obviously things happened with my sister.

Coleen Nolan has admitted she struggles with Father's Day after finding out her father had abused her older sister (Quest Red)

"For her, he was abusive, but I never experienced or saw that side of him. So, I have a lot of nice memories, she [Anne] has a lot of bad ones, so it's hard for me. I don't want to post anything...I don't want to be disloyal to her but then there's a part of me that doesn't want to be disloyal to him."

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Coleen has previously said she had the "mostly lovely memories" of childhood and growing up in The Nolans band.

But she was terrified of her dad returning home after a Saturday at the pub and being violent to her late mother Maureen.

Speaking on Loose Women in 2019 she said: "He never drank during the day. When he went out, and certainly to the clubs, he used to drink brandy.

"I loved him until he’d had too much to drink and then I found him scary. He was quite argumentative when he was drunk.

"On a Saturday I used to have that dread of he'll be home soon looking for an argument with my mum. My mum was a fiery Irishwoman but I was like: 'don't answer him back'".

Nolans star Anne revealed she was sexually abused by her father in her autobiography Anne's Song.

The star said it began at 11 and lasted for years, sometimes daily. She wrote: "I felt horror, shame and anger."

Anne admitted she was "gripped by panic" one night when her father asked her to 'run away and live as man and wife'.

She added her "fabulous career" in the 70s with sisters Denise, Maureen, Bernie, Linda and Coleen was "tainted by what he did" concluding: "He killed stone dead the love a daughter should feel for her father."

Anne told her sisters about the abuse only after Tommy died in 1998 at 72 as she wrote: "They sat open mouthed ... incomprehension gradually gave way to anger."

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*Loose Women airs weekdays at 12.30pm on ITV

Victoria Johns