Loose Women’s Linda Robson breaks silence on ‘marriage crisis’ and ‘feud’ with Birds of a Feather stars
LOOSE Women star Linda Robson has poured cold water on claims her marriage is in crisis, branding it "a load of rubbish".
The much-loved actress, 65, has been married to her husband Mark Dunford for 33 years.
Earlier this year, sources claimed the pair were on the rocks before mum-of-three Linda went on a family holiday in Spain without her other half.
But in an exclusive interview with The Sun, Linda confirmed they are very much still together.
"That’s a load of rubbish," she said of the stories. "We’re still living together. We both love our kids more than anything else in the world, obviously you have a few hiccups in every marriage. We’ve been married 33 years so it’s not going to be all plain sailing, but we’re still together at the moment."
The TV star likened the speculation surrounding her and Mark's relationship to the years of reports that she was locked in a bitter feud with her Birds of a Feather co-star and childhood friend Pauline Quirke.
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She continued: "I keep getting asked everywhere. It’s like the rumour me and Pauline don’t talk to each other. We’re best mates. We’ve been best mates since we were 10 years old.
"It really upsets me every time I meet someone who goes, ‘Oh you fell out’. No, we haven’t fallen out. I see her all the time, she comes to my house, I go to her house. And we’re really good friends, and we’ll always be really good friends. And Lesley [Joseph] as well."
Linda played Tracey Stubbs, and Pauline her sister Sharon, in the hit sitcom that followed the siblings as they moved in together after their husbands were jailed for armed robbery.
Lesley's character Dorien was their snobby neighbour, who they would go on to befriend and get up to all manner of mischief with.
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The trio earned national treasure status over the course of three decades with the majority of the 12 series from its first 10 year run from 1989 averaging 12 million viewers.
"The three of us went through so much together," said Linda. "It’s over 20 years it ran for, on and off. We had births, deaths, funerals - I went to Lesley’s mum’s funeral, they came to my mum’s funeral, we were all at each other’s weddings. We’ve got a lot of history together."
Linda previously addressed her solo jaunt to Majorca on Loose Women, explaining how she invited herself on the trip with eldest daughter Lauren and her grandchildren.
While the sun and setting was perfect, it wasn't an incident-free holiday.
Linda recalled an embarrassing accident that left a restaurant of people staring at her behind.
She said: "My nephews were on a scooter and I said, ‘Go on then’. So I got on the scooter, I scooted with just my leg and, all of a sudden, I pressed this button and the scooter took off - it was electric. I ended up on my knees with my a**e in the air. And everyone in the restaurant all stood up to have a look [laughs]."
Now back in Britain, Linda is supporting a cause she cares passionately about.
The star is promoting medicinal cannabis with to reduce the stigma surrounding it having seen firsthand the benefits in can bring to those suffering from cancer and chronic illness.
One of these cases involved a young boy called Deryn Blackwell, who was suffering from two forms of rare cancer aged just eight.
Linda explained: "His mum rang me. I made friends with them and used to go and visit him and his mum and dad and brother in Bristol, and she rang me and said, 'Can you come up because I don't think he's got very long'.
"So I went to Bristol hospital and went to see him to say goodbye. It was really sad. And then a couple of weeks later she rang me and said, 'You won't believe it but he's doing really, really well'. They put him on medicinal cannabis. The last time I spoke to him he was working for Heston Blumenthal. So that was the first experience I had with it."
Then in 2018 Linda took part in ITV's Gone To Pot with Pam St Clement, Christopher Biggins, Bobby George and John Fashanu.
The five stars travelled around the US in a psychedelic bus exploring the different uses of cannabis.
She said: "We went all around America - San Francisco, LA, Denver, Colorado - finding out all the pros and cons of cannabis and, at the end of it, the five of us decided it should be made legal because we saw so many people it had helped.
"We met a young girl who was seven or eight, she was having up to 90 seizures a day. After taking the cannabis, they mixed it in with her food, and they reduced by 75 per cent."
And closer to home there are friends and loved ones who are also benefiting from it.
Linda said: "One of my husband’s best friends has got really bad MS and my husband goes round to him every night, does his roll-ups for him, helps out. He lives 10 minutes from us and Mark goes to see him every night just to make sure he’s all right.
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"My sister's had breast cancer and she takes cannabis oil under her tongue every day, and that's definitely helped her. When she was having chemo she was so sick, but after taking the cannabis that definitely helped with her sickness as well.
"If I had anything I would definitely take it, 100 percent, without even worrying about it, even if I got arrested."
