Christine talks growing up during The Troubles and explains why she believes there's hope after lockdown
Christine shared her memories of growing up in Northern Ireland during The Troubles with the Loose Women, in the hopes of reassuring young people that there was light at the end of the lockdown tunnel.
"As a teenager, and certainly as a younger child as well, lots of things got cancelled a lot of the time because awful things were happening. People were being killed and families were losing their loved ones," she explained.
Christine said she could sympathise with young people, like Kaye's daughter Charlie, because she knew what it felt like to suddenly find yourself in a position where you had to cancel plans with your friends.
"You’d want to go out partying or go to clubs and it was quite exciting and then there’d be a bomb or a bomb scare," she explained. "And suddenly, not only of course was your night cancelled, which was the least of anybody’s worries, but that is kind of what life was and you became weirdly used to it."
Kaye asked Christine if the experience had a lasting impact and she told her that it had certainly made her more appreciative of the things she has in life.
"My dad was a musician so he’d be out constantly and as a little girl, I’d be sitting at home petrified, it was complete anxiety," she recalled. "I had to hear dad drive home before I could go to sleep at night time."
"Those things stick with you forever, but it does make you, I would like to think, a bit stronger and it absolutely makes you appreciate things."
And she also shared a message of hope for young people who are finding lockdown difficult.
"When I do think of our teenagers and your daughter, Kaye, sort of having to cancel gigs and cancel things, what I would say to them is imagine what it’s going to feel like when you can do it. Imagine what it feels like when we have some sort of a normality back, which will happen. It has to happen."
"We put an awful lot of pressure on our young people right now and we’re expecting a great deal from them. It's just not easy but it will get better."
Watch Christine's story in the video above and catch the full discussion about how lockdown is affecting the Loose Women's children's mental health on the ITV Hub.
If you've been affected by any of the issues raised you can check out these mental health helplines.
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