Kym Marsh, who was born in Garswood, St Helens, has opened up about the “hardest” yet “best” lifestyle change she’s ever made. The former Coronation Street star is supporting an NHS movement designed to help six million people make the same decision, too.
The star, famed for her role in the ITV soap as Michelle Connor for several years, spoke candidly about her experience with smoking on Instagram. She has ditched cigarettes after years of “dipping in and out” of the habit – until she faced something that made her pledge to change, which would benefit herself and her family for generations to come.
As part of the NHS’ Stop Smoking Day (March 12), Kym shared an Instagram video in which she said quitting was “one of the hardest things” she’s ever done. She continued: “It’s also one of the best decisions I’ve made for myself.”
She stuck to the decision after experiencing something that made her stop and reevaluate her life choices. She said: “The turning point for me was my family—I want to be around for as long as I can for both my children and grandchildren. That’s what keeps me motivated every single day. Stopping smoking made such a difference to my life—I just felt so much better for it.”
Kym, who initially picked up smoking in her late teens, maintained the habit on and off for around 25 years. But she managed to give up smoking a few years ago. Now, encouraged by her progress, she is determined to inspire other UK smokers to snub out their final cigarette, reports the Mirror.
In her full interview, she said: “The final turning point was my grandchildren really, and obviously my kids. I think it was becoming a grandparent, and realising I’m still fairly young to be a grandparent and I’ve got the opportunity of doing some really amazing, adventurous things with them and I don’t want to cut that short.
“I knew that I shouldn’t be smoking, because my dad had a massive cardiac arrest when he was 49, and thankfully recovered and we got him for many more years, but that was all down to the fact that he was a very, very heavy smoker.
“And I just thought ‘Come on Kym, this should be the time when you look at your life and go, actually, I want to be around’. I’m not going to let something like what happened to my dad take me away from my grandchildren and my kids.”
Kym claimed that the decision was definitely influenced by her strong will to be around for her family. She said: “When I look at my kids and I look at my grandchildren, they’re very much my future.”
Identifying herself as a “social smoker”, she admitted that breaking such a harmful habit wasn’t easy. She said: “For me, it was about trying to break that cycle of weekends and being out with my friends, choosing places that we went to that made it more difficult for smoking to be accessible, or being with people who didn’t smoke.
“I just tried to remove myself from those situations as much as possible. Eventually, I got to the point where I felt that I didn’t miss it any more.”
Many in the comment section were quick to commend Kym for openly sharing her journey. One said: “Such a courageous thing to do especially being in television. Well done.” Another wrote: “Well done! You’ve already achieved a lot and this is arguably the best achievement yet.” A third commented: “I agree. Best thing I ever did! 13yrs now for me.” Someone else shared: “Quit over 20 years ago best thing I did.”
Health experts have claimed that each smoke snatches roughly 20 minutes from your life. This proves to be a sobering thought when you work out how many cigarettes the average smoker goes through in a single day. According to the NHS, it’s never too late to kick the habit – no matter how many years you’ve been at it. You’ll start to see benefits kicking in soon after you make the decision to quit.
The NHS Better Health page claims: “The day you stop, your body starts clearing itself of all those nasty toxins, and the repair process begins.” Most people will notice they have more energy and can breathe a little easier within days or weeks.