24 S MAGAZINE ★ 4 AUGUST 2019
Strong Sherrie
She’s been in showbusiness for more than four decades, but actress
Sherrie Hewson shows no sign of slowing down Words by Rosie Hopegood
S
herrie Hewson is plonked on a sofa,
describing in detail everything from
ageing and being a grandmother to
plastic surgery and friendship. It
is no surprise that Sherrie, 68, is
happy for this no-holds barred chat. As one of
the original line-up of Loose Women, she has
always been outspoken and forthright. She left
the show in 2017 after 15 years, but says she
would go back in a heartbeat.
“The only reason I stopped is because
Benidorm [the ITV show in which she played
the manager of the Solana hotel for six years]
took me out of the country for six months of
the year,” she says. “Quite a few of the girls
have taken a few years out and gone back
though. I thought I’d just stop for a minute.”
But the friendships she formed with her
co-presenters remain strong. “I really went
through the mill on that show and I’ll always be
grateful to the girls. I went through a bad divorce
and I lost all my hair – without them I’m not
really sure how I would have coped.
“There was never one time I felt lonely. Every
day I went in and everyone would rally round.
Even if you were tearful, they would get you
through it. There was a real sisterly atmosphere
and it was never bitchy at all. We all looked
after each other.”
Sherrie has just finished a nine-month tour
with stage show Benidorm and is due to make
a film version next year. She has had a full
and varied career that most can only dream of- penning a crime novel and a cookbook,
running a restaurant, as well as working on
some of the biggest shows of the last 40
years. The RADA-trained actress has turned
her hand to everything, from comedy in Russ
Abbot’s Saturday Madhouse, to a four-year stint
in Coronation Street where she played Maureen
Webster, the dizzy shop assistant who went on
to marry Reg Holdsworth. She has also had
roles in Z-Cars, Within These Walls and, more
recently, Emmerdale.
But for the actress, no career highlight can
even come close to the joy her family brings
her. In 2011, she divorced her husband, Ken,
but shares an exceptionally close bond with
her daughter, Keeley, 34, who lives five minutes
down the road from her with her children Ollie,
13, Molly, eight, and baby Rosie.
“Being a grandma is like falling in love all
over again, times 1,000,” she says,
beaming. “It’s so unbelievably special. It’s
what I live for. I can’t be away from them...
honestly, if they moved to Australia tomorrow
I’d be on the plane with them. I didn’t have
a mother like that – my mum thought thatthey were my problem – but I’m the best nana
in the world. The baby is just...,” she throws
her hands up, “...she’s just sensational.
She really is a Rosie because she’s so rosy
and beautiful.”
Despite adoring being a grandmother, Sherrie
admits she struggles with ageing. Looking very
glamorous in a peach jacket and trousers at
a posh location house in west London, she
confesses, “There’s nothing nice about getting
older at all. My mother was a model who wore
bikinis until she was 89. She used to say,
‘Shut up, Sherrie, stop moaning because the
alternative is being dead.’ It’s true, of course,but my father used to say, ‘Oh God, never get
older. Everything aches and everything drops
off.’ And he’s absolutely right.”
If she could go back to any age, Sherrie would
choose her forties. “In your twenties and thirties
you’re running around a lot not knowing who
you are,” she says. “But your forties and fifties
are fabulous. Then I got to number six and
I thought, ‘I don’t like this at all.’ You’re not in
your fifties, and your body is telling you that you
aren’t, but you still feel like you are, and you’re
not in your seventies and really ‘owning it.’ I
might not like number seven, but number six is
truly horrible. It’s been a very confused decade.”
It was in her early sixties that she discovered
she had a problem with her hearing. “About five
years ago I had a hearing test and I was told
I had a problem. Of course, I did nothing about
it and carried on, and lo and behold it’s got
worse. I sometimes wonder if it stems from
wearing those earpieces on Loose Women for
so many years. My granddaughter is always
saying to me, ‘Nana, why are you talking so
loudly?’ If we’re in the restaurant and the food
isn’t good she says, ‘Please don’t complain,
Nana, you’re so loud.’ Now I’ve had some
hearing aids, or ‘helpers’ as I call them, fitted
at Specsavers and my voice immediately
dropped. As soon as I put them in, the clarity
of the world was startling. I realised that
everything had just been dull and that’s why
I turned my telly up so loud.
“I got in the car after having them fitted and
the music came on so loud. I realised I had
turned my music up so much I couldn’t even
hear the other cars. It’s dangerous. Plus, I’d
been driving along with the music blaring like
a 102-year-old boy racer. It was Gettin’ Jiggy
Wit It by Will Smith – that’s a bass-y song at
the best of times.
“I’ve realised that if you can’t hear what
someone is saying and you’re just smiling and“Being a grandma
is like falling in love.
It’s what I live for”