Sheridan Smith in ‘grieving’ admission following death of dad

‘I am very grateful because the public always stood by me’

Actress Sheridan Smith, who is appearing on Saturday Kitchen Live today (January 24), previously opened up about grieving the death of her dad.

In 2016, Sheridan’s father, Colin, was diagnosed with cancer. However, he tragically died in December of that year at age 80.

Sheridan Smith on Lorraine
Sheridan’s dad died from cancer (Credit: ITV)

Sheridan Smith struggled after her dad died

Sheridan Smith bursts into tears during This Morning interview

During an appearance on Lorraine in 2018, Sheridan openly admitted she really struggled following Colin’s death.

“I was spiralling out of control and I was making mistakes, doing things I really regret because I wasn’t in my right frame of mind, so I kind of understand that will get backlash and people will think, “What’s going on?”,” she said.

“My anxiety started with Legally Blonde. It’s like imposter syndrome and then you think, this can’t be happening to me because I’m not good enough.”

“And the more roles I got, which I was grateful for, I was scared that I wasn’t good enough. It was a really tough time leading up [to her dad’s death],” Sheridan continued.

Before her dad died, Sheridan confessed that she was “having different diagnoses”, and “going on different medications”, which resulted in side effects such as putting on weight.

Sheridan Smith in tears as mum she plays in ITV drama makes emotional on-air confession - The Mirror
Sheridan received support from the public while she was grieving (Credit: ITV)

‘People were stopping me and cuddling me on the street’

In an interview with the BBC in 2024, Sheridan expressed how grateful she was for the public’s support.

“I am very grateful because the public always stood by me, even though whatever went on in the press,” she said.

“They understood that when you are grieving, you can’t really explain what you go through and people were stopping me and cuddling me on the street.”

The actress recalled people from her hometown near Doncaster often travelling to London to watch her perform, explaining how the “whole village turned up to see Legally Blonde wearing pink cowboy hats”.