Former Loose Women star Andrea McLean has revealed that she found herself in horrific debt after investing all her savings in a company which folded.
Andrea McLean lost everything after investing all her life saving in a company set up with her husband Nick Feeney(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
For years, Andrea McLean was at the top of her game within the TV industry as the anchor of daytime ITV show Loose Women. And with her fame on the show which spanned 13 years, came a healthy bank account as she reportedly earned a six-figure salary.
But her world came crashing down around her ears after she decided to set up a lifestyle business with her husband Nick Feeney in 2020, investing all her saving into making it a success.
Unfortunately, Andrea, 56, and her husband were unable to make it work and the former TV presenter lost everything, to the point where her bank account was showing minus figures.
The company was a life-advice blog writing posts aimed at women and also served as a shopping website, selling “female-focused” products from female owned businesses. But when Covid-19 hit, the couple decided to focus on lifestyle instead and launched an app where subscribers would pay a fee of £19.99 to have access to confidence building, how to focus on a good night’s sleep and methods of how to become a calm parent.
Andrea McLean lost everything after investing all her life saving in a company set up with her husband Nick Feeney(Image: Instagram)
Andrea McLean and husband Nick Feeney attend RSPCA Animal Hero Awards(Image: Mike Marsland/WireImage)
The masterclass was held by experts and Andrea herself. The blog had amassed hundreds and thousands of readers and due to its success, the couple turned down the opportunity of investment.
Recalling that time in her life – detailed in her book Shameless: Finding Freedom And Resilience Through Failure – she said: “I thought “No one is going to believe in this as passionately as we do'” and instead they re-mortgaged their house and took out loans.
And so on the back of the collapse of her business she found herself immersed in a huge amount of debt. She explained: “I didn’t actually add [the debt] up in total. But it was a lot. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of pounds.”
And when asked if she constantly checked her bank balance to monitor her situation, she told the Daily Mail: “It was less than £2.60. It was minus. And I can’t remember an exact moment, because it just went on and on and on.”
Last year, Andrea managed to clear her debts by selling her home, cashing out her pension according to the publication and she reportedly sold all her clothes and furniture. In addition, she heart-breakingly sold her engagement rings hoped she would leave to her children in her will.
At one point she applied to work in Starbucks, saying: “I was prepared to go through the whole, “Are you that lady from the telly? Oh how the mighty have fallen!” thing.” However, they never replied to her application.
But life for Andrea is now debt free and lives in a rented apartment with her family in Spain. Publicly sharing her financial struggles, Andrea has written a book providing fans with a detailed account of her demise, titled Shameless.
She told the publication: “I just thought, ‘The only way I can get out of that is to shine a massive light on it’.” Her life has changed so much she found herself celebrating the fact she found £60 in an old wallet and treated her family to a Chinese take-away.
Speaking about her fortunate discovery she continued: “But we hadn’t done that for a good two years. And gosh, to tell the kids ‘We’re getting a Chinese’. It felt like the most amazing thing.”
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