Coleen Nolan has opened up about her personal life and relationship with her eldest son, Shane. The Loose Women panellist regularly shares insights into her life off-screen and even has a YouTube channel that is often updated with new videos.
The ITV star gained fame as a singer with the musical group The Nolans, alongside her sisters, and later transitioned to a successful career as a television personality and author. Coleen has been on Loose Women since the year 2000, making her one of the show’s longest-serving panellists.
In a post uploaded to Instagram, Coleen wrote: “We love sharing our lives with you and bringing you fun and light relief, but as we all know life is not always a bed of roses.
“What I’ve not spoken about before is that my eldest son @iamshanenolan had a drug addiction that ended in rehab. But we now wanted to open up and share this part of our story.”
Coleen and Shane Richie were married for nine years before the marriage ended in 1997. Their eldest son Shane, 36, has spoken about his battles for the first time publicly.
Coleen told her son: “It might be a great high for however long but you were broke, you got into a lot of debt, as everyone does with addiction. Relationships, you f***ed your marriage basically.” He is now in a relationship with girlfriend Kimberly Sallis.
Recalling her memories of the drug addiction that her son had, Coleen said: “I remember when you passed out and you split your head open, that was my breaking point. I thought if this doesn’t wake him up, he is going to die.”
Shane admitted he was in rehab the week following this incident. Coleen spoke about a “mother’s point of view”, as she said “I just felt like it was something I had done wrong. I really blamed me.”
In what was a difficult time for the family, Coleen claimed that she was constantly told it was down to her to speak to Shane and help him. This led her to believe she was “failing” in her role.
Crediting Kimberly for helping him through the drug addiction, Shane said in the video, “I think I’ve had to grow up. I’ve got a girlfriend who has helped me through it massively, we’re starting a family now.”
Speaking about how things are lately, Coleen shared the more upbeat news that the family have “relaxed” recently. Admitting that the difference for her is her son is “just nicer to be around” and she doesn’t “dread” him coming around.
Loose Women star Coleen Nolan was flooded with supportive messages as she revealed she will be a nan for the fourth time. The panellist shared the exciting news last month that she was expecting her third grandchild as her daughter, Ciara, is pregnant.
Eldest son, Shane Nolan, is also expecting a child with his partner Kim. Sharing her pride at the news, Coleen said on Loose Women: “I can’t actually believe this but I wanted to share with you all that I’m going to be a Nanny AGAIN! My first born Shane and his lovely partner Kim have just announced they are having a baby and I’m so excited.”
The new arrival will be Shane’s second child as he is already the proud dad to a daughter named Amelia, who was born in 2016. Coleen’s other son, Jake, became a dad to a baby boy in November 2024.