Linda Robson feared social media addiction after 'tough year' and alcohol battle

Linda Robson opened up on Loose Women about how her obsession with social media amid a "tough year", left her fearing using her phone.

She gave up her phone and all social media for a year as things got tough, amid her battles with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and alcoholism.

Linda opened up on her secret battle for the first time on the show in January, having been absent from the show for months.

She confirmed her sugar-free diet and wine ban led to her having a "meltdown", leading to severe anxiety and OCD which controlled her.

Linda also had an obsession with social media, so as she sought help she gave up her phone and access to her accounts.

A year on, she confessed she was "anxious" about taking control back.

She's now handed over control of her social media to her daughter, Bobbie, explaining it all got too much.

The panel were discussing taking detoxes from technology, and their own mass use of devices.

Linda told her fellow panellists: "I came off all social media and put my phone down for a year, cos I'd had a really tough year that year.

"When they said to me, the family, 'well you're gonna have to get your phone back now cos you're going back to work, and you need to get emails and everything'.

"It made me really anxious because I thought, 'Oh no, here it goes' because I thought I was gonna get addicted to the phone, addicted to social media, and most of the family are as well."

Linda went on: "You do think you're missing out, you're missing things, You wanna see what everyone is doing, the nice things."

On the idea of passing over control to someone else, she went on: "I've done that, I've actually given my daughter Bobbie the role of taking on my social media.

"She doesn't feel like she has to answer everybody where I feel like I have to answer every single person."

Speaking about her tough year earlier on in January, she said on the show: "I was having a meltdown. I came off the wine... and then I upped the tablets [and] had a really bad reaction.

"I had bad anxiety my OCD kicked into action."

Reiterating that OCD is "not a joke", she said that it began to take over her life.

"The rubbish would have two teabags in it and I would have to take it out," she explained.

Loose Women airs weekdays at 12:30pm on ITV.