Loose Women star Lisa Maxwell on marriage, motherhood and losing the plot

Loose Women star Lisa Maxwell on marriage, motherhood and losing the plot

Lisa Maxwell is looking forward to marrying the love of her life… but reveals today how they almost hit the rocks.

The Loose Women star says her long-term relationship with sculptor Paul Jessup was close to ending after the heartache of two miscarriages in 2008.

To escape the pain Lisa, 48, threw herself into her role as DI Sam Nixon in The Bill, only to lose the plot in real life.

But the strain started to show at home. “The work ethic at The Bill was ­ridiculous,” she says.

“Show first, everything else second. When I had the second miscarriage I realised I had my priorities wrong. I’d lost the plot. I had lost sight of what was important.

“I know Paul felt shut out too. He told me it was ­destructive, and that my reaction was unhealthy. He said I needed to take time out to think about what I wanted to do.

Panel: Lisa on Loose Women with Carol Vorderman and Katie Price

 

“Our relationship was rocky. We needed to regroup and I realised then it was time for me to jack in the job and come home.”

Leaving The Bill helped rekindle Lisa’s 15-year ­romance with Paul â€" but she admits to using the kind of ­arresting tactics she learned on the popular ITV cop show to finally nail her man ­earlier this year.

“I got him in a headlock,” says Lisa, laughing as she ­recalls her pyjama-clad Leap Year ­proposal on February 29. “We’d just been very intimate and he knew it was coming. I don’t know who’s going to give me away at the ­wedding. At the moment it’s a toss up between my mum and Shane Richie!”

Lisa says switching from The Bill to Loose Women not only saved her love life but also gave her the time to be a normal mum to their daughter Beau.

“I’m not as ambitious as I was,” she says. “I like acting, but I love doing Loose Women, I’ve got lots of different hats on.

“You’ve got t o make it work. I can’t just pack a bag and b****r off. I’ve got responsibilities.

“I love the fact my daughter now takes me for granted. I’m like a normal mum.

Normal mum now: Lisa with daughter Beau

 

“She assumes her uniform will be washed and ironed. She counts on me. There was a time when she wouldn’t.”

Beau, who turns 13 in October, is clearly top of Lisa’s ­priorities. After growing up on a council estate in London’s Elephant and Castle, she is well aware of the dangers teenage girls face. It was partly this concern that led to her and Paul moving to a ­stunning home in rural Gloucestershire.

“I would have worried if we’d stayed in ­London,” she says. “When I was growing up, it was all about getting drunk.

“Now drugs are an issue, even in Gloucestershire.

“I hope Beau can talk to me about anything. I’m a savvy girl. If she walked in off her nut I’d spot it a mile off.

“She’s known about sex for forever. As soon as she was old enough to ask the questions we told her it was a part of life, a healthy part of a ­relationship.”

On the subject of ­relationships, I remind Lisa that she’s just ab out the only star of Loose Women who hasn’t been ­divorced.

She says there’s a simple reason for that. “Well the only way I’ve avoided getting divorced is by not getting married!” she laughs. “It’s worked for me for 15 years. But there is no divorce curse on Loose Women. We’ve all had our problems, we’ve all lived life, but we’re there for each other.”

Problems sorted: Lisa with partner Paul

 

Now her future is looking settled she’s turned her hand to acting again, preparing to step on stage tomorrow night in gritty new play Chicken.

Lisa says: “I’m petrified, but really excited too. It’s the first time I’ve acted in front of a live audience in 12 years so ­obviously it’s daunting.” In her first-ever straight acting role in the theatre, she plays a poverty-stricken woman who finds herself ­pregnant for the first time at 45.

“She wants to be a good mum but she has no idea how,” she says. “I can totally relate to that. I was so scared when I found out I was pregnant I made Paul go and look at the test for me.”

And while it means venturing back to the kind of work she was doing when her romance faced its toughest challenge, Lisa is sure it’s the right move.

“Loose Women is off for the Olympics, it’s school holidays and it’s a short run,” she says.

“I love acting and I miss it so much. Loose Women i s a ­fantastic gig for me, it’s a great schedule But I needed to stretch myself.

“I needed to scare myself and that is what I’ve done.”

* Chicken opens at Trafalgar Studio 2 tomorrow (www. ­atgtickets.com/trafalgarstudios)