The relatable way Helen McCrory deals with coronavirus anxiety

From Red Online

Coronavirus-related anxiety is something that is currently plaguing most of us, if not all of the time, then some of the time; usually creeping up when we least expect it. A feeling Peaky Blinders star Helen McCrory is all too familiar with.

Even if you're not a key worker, or have had loved ones directly affected by virus, you're still probably experiencing high levels of anxiety, stress and fear at home, usually when you're just meandering the house doing mundane tasks. In fact, leading anxiety charity Anxiety UK has recently reported a 364% increase in calls to it's helpline over the past two weeks, proving that the coronavirus crisis is having a serious effect on our mental health.

We tend to think of celebrities as having a golden, protective shield around them, that protects them from experiencing the same everyday stresses as us, but if the current pandemic has taught us anything, it's that vulnerability and fear can strike anyone during these uncertain times, and that those in the public eye are most definitely not immune.

Appearing on the BBC’s Coronavirus Newscast, alongside husband Damian Lewis, McCrory admitted to feeling 'overwhelmed' at various points over the recent 'very surreal' couple of weeks.

'You think you’re absolutely fine, you’re pottering along, you’re coping with it – cleaning, cooking, cleaning, cooking, cleaning, cooking – and you suddenly burst into tears,” she revealed on the topical show.

The Peaky Blinders actress, who has been isolating at home with Homeland actor Lewis and their two children, daughter Manon, 12, and son Gulliver, 11, realises that these unexpected outbursts stem from the very common undercurrent of 'fear' that's been sweeping the nation, and that crying is 'the vulnerability coming out'. A very relatable reaction that I'm sure most, if not all, of us will have experienced over the course of the past few weeks.

Former Red cover star McCrory, who described family life as 'next-level chaos' in the September 2019 issue of the magazine, detailed the practical way she, and I'm sure a lot of parents up and down the country with young children at home, deals with the aftermath of these emotional explosions.

'You pick yourself up and you go along again as if nothing happened.'

McCrory and Lewis, along with comedian and new Bake Off presenter Matt Lucas, have been working hard to raise money for critical care staff nursing coronavirus patients, and have so far managed to raise nearly £1 million with their Feed NHS project, which aims to get one hot meal a day to key workers on the frontline.

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