For five long years, Andrea McLean vanished from the Loose Women panel — leaving behind a glittering TV career, loyal viewers, and a chapter of her life she once called home. On Thursday, she finally returned. But this was no ordinary comeback.
It was a return from the edge of death.
As Andrea walked back onto the familiar set, the atmosphere instantly shifted. Charlene White, Coleen Nolan, Katie Piper and Jane Moore watched on with stunned emotion — because behind Andrea’s radiant smile was a story so terrifying, it left the panel fighting back tears.
This was not just a reunion.
This was a survivor coming home.
The Secret Disappearance Finally Explained
When Andrea left Loose Women in December 2020, the public believed she was stepping away to focus on new projects and her business. What no one knew was how brutally her life would unravel in the years that followed.
Earlier this year, Andrea quietly revealed she had moved to Spain after dissolving her business — but the real reason had been far darker.
Now, for the first time, she has told the full truth.
“At the very end of last year into the beginning of this year,” she said softly,
“I was hospitalised with severe pneumonia, kidney failure and sepsis.”
The words landed like a bomb inside the studio.
“It all went downhill slowly… and all at once,” she continued.
“I wasn’t told how bad it was. Nick was told. I was in no fit state to hear anything.”
“If We Waited Another 24 Hours, I Wouldn’t Be Here”
Then came the sentence that froze everyone in place.
“If we had waited another 24 hours, I would not have made it.”
Andrea revealed that she spent three months in and out of hospital, enduring endless tests, aggressive drug treatments and crushing uncertainty.
She lost around 80 percent of one of her lungs.
For months, survival — not success — became the only goal.
Eventually, in March, she was discharged. Though technically recovered, she admits her body still carries the scars.
“There are still a few little bits with one of my lungs,” she said.
“But I’m alright now.”
The Mirror Moment That Broke Her Heart
As if the illness itself wasn’t enough, Andrea revealed one of the most emotionally devastating side effects of her recovery.
“My hair started falling out.”
Years of being known for her polished appearance were suddenly stripped away.
“After being so poorly, the antibiotics, everything… if you look back at old photos of me on Loose Women — that wasn’t my hair. Technically it was mine because I bought it.”
Eventually, she made a painful but empowering decision.
“I went to my hairdresser and said, ‘Let’s just do this. Let’s take it all out and chop it.’”
It wasn’t just a haircut.
It was surrender — and rebirth.
The Husband Who Never Left Her Side
Throughout the darkest days of her illness, Andrea says one person never wavered: her husband, Nick Feeney.
“It was very tough. We’d already been through so much as a couple,” she admitted.
After leaving Loose Women to build her business, Andrea was hit by Covid. The business collapsed. Their future became uncertain. And just as they began to rebuild — her body collapsed too.
“We have been through so many tests as a couple,” she said.
Yet against every storm, their love endured.
This year, they celebrated eight years of marriage — twelve years together.
“If you can still smile at each other after everything,” Andrea said,
“and still think you’re the bees knees… then you know you’ve got something real.”
The Breakdown That Changed Everything
Andrea’s last on-air goodbye in 2020 was emotional — but now, it carries haunting weight.
She later revealed her departure was rooted in a nervous breakdown she suffered in 2019 — a moment that forced her to question her entire life.
“You get one life,” she told viewers back then.
“Are you living it the way you want? Are you being brave?”
With tears streaming down her face, she had announced:
“I’m going to be leaving Loose Women because I want to be brave.”
At the time, it felt like a bold career move.
Now, in hindsight, it feels like the first step in a fight for survival she never saw coming.
A Comeback That Means More Than Television
Andrea McLean did not return to Loose Women as the woman who once left.
She returned as someone who had faced death.
Lost her lungs.
Lost her hair.
Lost her business.
And nearly lost her life.
Yet she stood on that set with strength, grace — and something far more powerful than fame:
Perspective.
Her story is no longer just about television or success.
It is a chilling reminder that everything can change in one moment — and a powerful testament that sometimes, surviving is the greatest comeback of all.