TV favourite and Loose Women star Coleen Nolan sets the record straight on friendship and family, and reveals the heartbreaking advice she received from her now late sisters
Loose Women favourite Coleen Nolan insists that she and her ex-husband are “best friends” – just days after reports suggested that the TV star and Ray Fensome, who she split from in 2018, endured a “bitter” divorce. In an exclusive chat with OK !, Blackpool-born Coleen says this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Ray, a musician, recently appeared on Loose Women during their groundbreaking mental health-inspired programme, playing guitar in the Loose band. “Before the programme had even finished, there was a story online about how Ray had been offered a full-time job at Loose Women , even though we had a terrible divorce,” Coleen says. The speculation, the 60-year-old explains, can be “really frustrating”, adding, “I don’t know why they’ve massively got it in for Loose .”
READ MORE: ‘I tried the genius unique advent calendar I didn’t know I needed – there’s a way to save £22’
Reflecting on dogged rumours of constant arguments and toxicity behind the scenes on the show, Coleen says defiantly, “On my children’s lives, that’s just not true. It’s not true. We are exactly like how we are on-screen.
“There are moments when you go, ‘You’re getting on my nerves, now,’ and I love that because we’re like sisters; it never lasts. It’s a shame. Loose is such a good show, we’ve achieved so many wonderful things and there isn’t anything else like it.”
Each day, she says with a sigh, panellists are subjected to some kind of trolling on social media, be it about their appearance or opinions. And as Coleen admits, it can get to her.
“It’s a shame that they’re trying to batter it down – and it’s normally women. Women should be championing women! But the genie is out of the bottle, with social media. The only time I go for trolls is if it’s going to really hurt people. It’s ridiculous.”
Coleen says she rarely sees any criticism of the male panellists based on their appearance or topics they talk about. “As soon as it’s women, it comes out. It’s bizarre,” she adds.
But for Coleen, who grew up in one of the most famous singing families in the country, there are still aspects of her life that she hesitates to share on-air.
“With personal stuff, I don’t share until it’s kind of settled, as far as my break-ups from my husbands. Not Shane [Richie], because we’d already broken up before I started Loose Women – that’s how I got on Loose Women .
“But with Ray, there were a couple of years before I actually came out and talked about it. I’m always aware of the other person; it’s not fair on them. Obviously, when it’s all done, I’ll say, ‘Yeah, it was a hard couple of years,’ but not while we’re going through it – it was hard for him as well.”
Coleen is the first to admit she’s a “great talker” and would rather share than keep things bottled up – but reveals her brutal honesty has sometimes got her into tricky situations at home.
“I’ve come home to silence sometimes,” she says, after discussing marriage and family on Loose . “I say to them, ‘Look, I do a show and if a topic about kids or divorce comes up, I’m going to talk about it.’”
Singing and performing from the age of two, Coleen – who moved to a six-acre farm in Dilhorne, Staffordshire, in 2024 to fulfil her dream of being surrounded by animals in the countryside – admits that she doesn’t feel much like a “celebrity”.
“I think people have a certain impression of celebrities, and I’m not that. I’m not at every red-carpet event. I’m happiest at home, covered in horse poo and taking the dogs for a walk! And as far as being open, I’d rather be that way – I don’t think the public are stupid. If you go on air and deliver a fake persona, which a lot do, it’s hard to live up to.”
Her older sisters, Maureen, Anne and Denise, recently reunited on stage performing The Nolans’ biggest hits, but Coleen says she can’t see the band hitting the road again any time soon, bar the odd family get-together or one-off event.
As a family, the Nolans have suffered devastating heartache, not least, the deaths of Bernie in 2013 and Linda in January of this year, both after courageously battling cancer right until the end. Continuing without them would be too strange, Coleen admits.
“I couldn’t go as far as going on tour without Bernie and Linda. Bernie was the lead singer, and Linda was a force to be reckoned with. I’d miss them too much. To actually tour, the four of us, wouldn’t feel the same.”
Heartbreakingly, Coleen reveals that her two sisters gave the family strict rules when they first fell ill. “I remember Bernie saying to me, ‘I’ll give you two weeks to cry and cry a lot because I’m worth it, but then, shut up and get back out there.’ I remember that. Linda was the same. If they can be that strong when they went through what they went through, I have no right to hide under a duvet.”
The public’s outpouring of love, she adds, was a huge comfort to Coleen and her family as they navigated both losses. “It meant so much to us and it makes me so sad for people that haven’t got that. Some people have to go through those things totally alone – maybe they haven’t got a family. It made me feel so grateful. It really helped, a lot. Blackpool Tower, they didn’t tell us when they turned it pink for the whole day when Linda died. It was so emotional.”
Coleen says talking about grief on the show can be tough. “Sometimes, it’s hard because you have to go out, smile and put a face on. When Linda died, I found that hard for a while, that’s when I started therapy. I really struggled to get back on the horse. But life goes on, your bills don’t care – they all want paying. I don’t know how I’d have felt if I was a multimillionaire, that was my issue, that’s why I had therapy, I needed someone to put logic into my head. I needed someone I could cry openly with. I didn’t want to cry in front of my family, they were going through their own grief.”
Grief is something that Coleen is still coming to terms with, as she reveals how, like many people, it hits her out of the blue, leaving her heartbroken all over again. But most recently, Coleen has found joy on her farm, which she documents on her own YouTube channel, adding that she would “absolutely” love to do a family reality show. “I did pitch it to a lot of channels,” she confesses. “I’m probably the wrong age and size for them. I don’t fit the criteria.”
But there are plenty of plans afoot. Next year, Coleen is on the road again for This Is Me , her second solo tour, promising a night of laughter, stories, surprises – and even a song or two. “I’m really excited! I’m a bit nervous because I haven’t put it together yet. I’m at that stage where I’m having sleepless nights thinking about how we’re going to do it!”
After recently performing on Loose Women , Coleen was flooded with comments from fans who had forgotten she was a singer first. “I very rarely sing any more,” she says coyly, adding, “When I do, I realise that’s what I was born to do, that’s all I’ve ever done really. It’s nice to be able to do both on this tour. I want it to be a Q&A with the audience, fun, taking them through my life story but interspersing it with songs.”
Her eldest son, musician Shane Nolan, will be joining Coleen onstage again, and she admits she’s “scared” of the stories he may spill. “When we did the last tour, Shane was my support, then came on during my set. I’m so comfortable with him, I can tell him to shut up because he’s my son!” she says.
“He knows me and I know him, we’ve got the exact same sense of humour, and he’s such an entertainer.”
Coleen Nolan: This Is Me tours in February 2026
Follow Mirror Celebs on Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.