Andrea McLean left her lucrative job on Loose Women behind to pursue a new career away from the cameras, after launching her lifestyle website and app This Girl Is On Fire, back in 2020. However, she can’t escape the fact that members of the public still recognise her from her role on the ITV daytime show.
Recently, Andrea, 54, suffered an “embarrassing” moment while out with her husband Nick Feeney, during which she was reminded of struggles with her identity after leaving Loose Women following 13 years on the panel.
During an episode of her and Nick’s joint podcast, Mastering Midlife, the TV star explained: “Going back to when I quit my job, I’d been known as this thing for over two decades – it’s hard enough to leave any job you’ve done for over two decades, particularly a job in the public eye.
“One of the things I did have to sit down with myself and reason out is – who am I if I am not? Because if you’ve had a so-called normal job, people don’t come up to you in the street and go, ‘didn’t you used to be that bank manager?’
“But I will always be, ‘didn’t you used to be that person who…’ Well, I’m still the person – I just don’t do the job anymore,” Andrea told listeners.
Nick then shared his opinions on his wife’s difficulties, explaining: “That goes back to your identity, and what you just said is that most of us pin our identity on how other people see us.
“When we get comfortable in our own selves, and actually start asking ourselves better questions, and start loving ourselves more and focusing on what we want, and who we want to be – we then realise that no one else gives half as much of a s*** as we think they do.
“But more importantly, it’s irrelevant because you’re actually comfortable with who you are. I remember when you left [Loose Women] for a long period – and it ebbed and flowed – you really struggled with your identity, because, whilst it was your choice, and you made decisions and were going on to do things, and still do amazing things, there have been moments where you don’t quite know who you are.
“But the beauty of that is, you had that space to sit with yourself, you’re not sliding down that tipping point – that was a decision that you made – but that still doesn’t stop you struggling now and then with who you are.
“And what you said about when people say to you, ‘excuse me, are you that lady off the telly?’ That literally happened yesterday!”
Nick revealed he and Andrea had bumped into someone who instantly recognised the star from her appearances on ITV.
He recalled: “We were just walking to where we go to work in a co-working space, and there was this bloke who said, ‘hey, didn’t you used to be that lady of the telly?’ and Andrea was like, ‘yes, that was me.’”
However, the fan then awkwardly proceeded to get Andrea’s name wrong, calling her Angela, before being corrected by the former TV presenter.
Andrea giggled and continued the story by chiming: “I said, ‘no it’s Andrea’, and this schoolboy went, ‘he don’t even know your name!’
“It was so embarrassing – and there you have it! You have to have a balanced outlook in life, otherwise you would be crushed by things like that.”