Denise Welch has locked horns with a former Loose Women colleague in a heated social media exchange.
The TV personality and actress, 67, is seldom shy about expressing her opinions; hence, she’s been a regular panellist on the ITV daytime programme since 2005.
And today, Denise began trading barbs with author Melanie Blake, who had some strong thoughts on the quotes used for another presenter’s new book.
Taking to X, Melanie, 49, shared a photo of the back cover of Andrea McLean’s Shameless: Finding Freedom and Resilience Through Failure, which featured snippets from Donna Ashworth, Owen O’Kane, Amanda Charles, and Denise.
In her quote, Denise called the autobiography ‘unflinchingly honest about her life imploding’, comparing reading it to ‘like watching a reality show’.
‘Bailiffs, debt collectors, losing everything… seeing how she turns shame into strength makes this impossible to put down,’ her quote adds.
Taking umbrage with her words, however, Melanie accused Denise and other co-stars, including Nadia Sawalha, of being previously unkind behind Andrea’s back. Andrea left Loose Women in late 2020 after 13 years of hosting.
‘Huge plug Denise Welch has given for Andrea’s new book,’ Melanie began in her post. ‘Quite a surprise tho as Denise, Nadia & most of the OG cast, referred to her as “BLANDREA” behind her back at #LooseWomen for decades – “as was so boring”.
‘But suddenly her life & careers a mess & she’s “unputdownable”.’
Seemingly anticipating questions, she quickly followed it up with a second tweet, claiming people cannot ‘dispute [her] musing’ because ‘everyone at ITV knows that’s true’.
‘Possibly not Andrea since she’s got her on her back cover,’ she then quipped, calling ‘Blandrea’ her ‘mean girl nickname’.
‘Andrea is many things by the way but being boring isn’t one them so I never understood why so many of them called her that – but they did – and they know it,’ Melanie concluded.
Chiming in, Denise kept her reply snappy, choosing to swing for Melanie, rather than make any mention of Andrea.
‘Well. Can’t wait for your no holds barred “autobiography”. Very confused as to how that’s going to fly!!’, she replied sarcastically.
What came after that was a 460-word rant from Melanie, accusing Denise of ‘veiled threats’ and ‘baiting’, asking: ‘and what will I have told hold back once YOU get what you’re after?? Oh deary me a very grim series of tales indeed – that’s what you get with total freedom of speech.’
She proceeded to vent: ‘The fact you’re a “mental health advocate & LGBTQI ally [for] all” will be one hell of interesting subject won’t it? I have never done anything but help you and I’ve got all the receipts and your texts to me MELANIE BLAKE – up to the day you returned to Loose Women & became Nadia’s scapegoat puppet.’
Melanie alleged that Denise has ‘come after [her] time and time again’ but is ‘the one person [Melanie’s] never talked about in [the] press’.
She stated that ‘there are a thousand stories to pull from’, should she be seeking ‘publicity’ off the soap star’s name, warning her: ‘You don’t scare me.’
Melanie insisted she has ‘never done anything’ to Denise, telling her she could ‘fill a book’ with anecdotes about her ‘behaviour’.
‘Yet you’ve been coming for me since the moment you walked back into LW (we were in contact right up to that return & had never even had an argument) then a very clever women [sic] decided to get you to get the heat off her & it’s worked hasn’t it,’ she wrote.
‘Now it’s you and I in the headlines not me and her – remember you chose this route when it explodes in your face.
‘Oh and I see you didn’t deny calling Andrea Blandrea did you? That’s the top of that era iceberg – I’ve swerved you for years but if you wanna steer the boat – make sure you know – for you – it’s the Titanic.’
She concluded by informing Denise that she has ‘never even been on [her] list for revelations’ but she is ‘forcing [her] way into it’, which she branded ‘a big mistake’.
‘And no that’s not a threat – I have no problem with you & I never had & you had none with me – until you were fed the bait,’ she added.
As for Denise’s response to the essay, well, she was a woman of few words.
‘Get help love, honestly. I wish you well. But get help,’ she replied in short.
Melanie followed it up with another lengthy tweet, urging Denise to be the one to ‘get help’ and claiming Denise actually wishes for her ‘public humiliation’.
Calling her remark a ‘joke’, she finished: ‘Your halo’s broke love – order a new one’, to which Denise merely replied with a confused face emoji.
As the fiery exchange suggests, this is far from the first time Denise and Melanie have come to blows.
In 2023, Denise clashed with the talent agent after she said Loose Women is a ‘cut-throat place to work’, having represented numerous Loose Women panelists over the past decade.
Taking to social media, Denise insisted that she would never work for a show with such a negative atmosphere.
‘So disappointing that a female agent @MelanieBlakeUK constantly uses her position to tear down other women’, Denise wrote.
‘It’s such a cliche that women can’t work together without being b*****s’, she added.
‘I adore my @loosewomen colleagues otherwise I wouldn’t work there.’
Previously, Melanie told The Mirror: ‘Considering I represented over 15 women on that show (Loose Women), I am only friends with Saira Khan.’
‘‘But I am in such a positive career space right now, it’s just not a period of time I want to relive. But I can confirm in my experience, it’s that show that’s a cut-throat place to work and not This Morning,’ she added at the time of swirling accusations of a toxic culture on the fellow daytime show.
Melanie also admitted she no longer watches Loose Women, comparing it to a ‘toxic ex’ in the sense that ‘you just want to move on’, and saying she’d ‘literally cross the road to avoid former clients’.
While she made her Loose debut over 20 years ago, Denise sensationally quit from 2013 to 2018, later saying she felt ‘hurt’ by changes made higher up that were kept a ‘secret’ from her, adding: ‘Every show needs a shake-up. But the way the show’s going, I’ve felt that my wings have been clipped. I feel the way the show is going is losing the fun of it.’
Denise was then absent from November 2024 to February 2025 due to continued mental health struggles, which she often speaks candidly about, having been diagnosed with depression at 24.
Upon her return, she confessed that things became ‘black so quickly’, causing her to have panic attacks for the first time in a while and stop eating.
Matters only worsened when Denise remained determined to ‘plough on’, which culminated in her collapsing and having to pull out of the show, taking an extended break before going back.
Loose Women airs weekdays at 12:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
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