After confirming she’s signed up to join the latest Celebs Go Dating line-up, friends of actress Helen Flanagan are reportedly “worried” it’s the wrong move at the wrong time. The former Coronation Street star said last week she was “very excited to be joining the agency this summer” after opening up about her traumatic mental health battle earlier this year which caused her to experience a terrifying psychotic episode and take two months off her social media while she recovered.
“She’s done so much work on herself this year after a really awful time, but it might be too soon for her to go on a show like that and face rejection from other people, which is just part of the format. Helen is reportedly set to appear alongside former Love Islander Chris Taylor, Married at First Sight bride Ella Morgan, Gogglebox star Stephen Lustig-Webb and Made in Chelsea hunk Tristan Phipps.
The actress, who played Corrie’s Rosie Webster for almost 20 years until 2018, hasn’t publicly dated anyone since her ex and our source says her friends think it’s too soon to put herself back out there on such a public platform. Helen was forced to pull out of her “dream job” playing Miss Scarlett in a national theatre tour of Cluedo 2 in January after realising she wasn’t mentally well enough to travel on tour for months on end. After getting therapy and working hard to heal and recover, she said earlier this month her break from social media and time off had “changed her life” for the better.
She also locked horns with experts Anna Williamson and Paul Brunson in one heated episode after accusing them of setting her up with an “identikit of the relationship I’ve just come out of”.