Sharon Horgan recalls almost giving a national treasure head lice as she discusses her rise to fame and battle with anxiety after hitting the big time

Bad Sisters star Sharon Horgan has recalled how she once almost gave national treasure Dame Joanna Lumley nits. 

The award-winning actor and writer, 54, made the confession while discussing her rise to fame and ever increasing battle with anxiety during an appearance on The Louis Theroux Podcast .

During her early career Sharon said she landed her own radio pilot for the BBC, while still working at the job centre, with the recording attended by both Ab Fab star Joanna and some creepy crawlies. 

She said: ‘At the time I had nits. I don’t know who I got them from, but I was squatting in a manor house in North London while I was working the job and I got nits off some, like, skank. 

‘And then, I remember being in the reception for the BBC, I’m like, what am I doing here? And Joanna Lumley was there, and I was so nervous I’d given her nits. And it was just sort of a weird two worlds colliding kind of thing’.

Years later the pair would reunite when Joanna guest starred in Sharon’s sitcom Motherland, before going on to appear in spin-off series Amandaland. 

Bad Sisters star Sharon Horgan, 54, has recalled how she once almost gave national treasure Dame Joanna Lumley nits

During her early career Sharon said she landed her own radio pilot for the BBC , while still working at the job centre, with the recording attended by both Ab Fab star Joanna (pictured) and some creepy crawlies

The award-winning actor and writer  made the confession while discussing her rise to fame and ever increasing battle with anxiety during an appearance on The Louis Theroux Podcast 

Sharon went on to discuss her anxiety and how she now takes beta blockers, which reduces the body’s reaction to stress by slowing a person’s heart rate. 

She told Louis: ‘When you have an increased heart rate, and when all those things start happening to you physically, that’s when you kind of step outside of yourself, because you’re telling yourself to calm down, you’re telling yourself to be less nervous, and you’re kind of like admonishing yourself’. 

‘And all that is making you feel a bit disembodied. So they [beta blockers] do something very practical physically, but I think the sort of mental stuff that goes with it.I t has had a real calming effect on me and in situations that would normally kind of terrify me’.

Revealing how the medication has helped change her life, she recalled feeling cool calm and collected at last year’s Critics’ Choice Awards with her Bad Sisters co-stare Eve Hewson’.  

‘We were going out to present an award and that place is insane. It’s like Cate Blanchett’s there, there’s Nicole Kidman, there’s Steven Spielberg and it’s insane and you’re going out to present an award and you need to be funny and you need to also feel relaxed’. 

‘And I took [a beta blocker] and I went out on stage and I was like, “I’m actually fine, happy to be here”. Whereas before I swear to God, I couldn’t,’ 

‘It was the worst. I would hear my voice, my heart would be going crazy. I’d be sweating. I’d be, my, my voice would wobble, but also get higher like I wasn’t getting enough oxygen to my brain’.

Last month Sharon admitted she wishes she had ended her marriage earlier because’ it was so clear that it wasn’t right’.

Years later the pair would reunite when Joanna guest starred in Sharon’s sitcom Motherland and spin-off series Amandaland Joanna pictured with co-star lucy punch)

She said: ‘At the time I had nits. I don’t know who I got them from, but I was squatting in a manor house in North London while I was working the job and I got nits off some, like, skank’ (pictured 2008)

Sharon went on to discuss her anxiety and how she now takes beta blockers, which helped her confidence to present at the 2023 Critics’ Choice Awards with co-star Eve Hewson (pictured)

She tied the knot with Jeremy Rainbird back in 2005, staying with the businessman for 14 years until they split in 2019.

And Sharon revealed the only thing she rues about her divorce was that it did not happen sooner after she stuck with her husband for a long time despite the relationship not working.

The creator of a string of hit relationship-based series such as Pulling, Catastrophe and Divorce told the How to Fail podcast: ‘I guess it was one of those things that was a long time coming. 

‘And I feel like it’s weirdly connected to confidence as well, or also that thing of what you should do versus what your body tells you and your brain tells you that you ought to do.

‘It’s like the Catastrophe story. We got together, we had a baby, and we made it work for a long time. We had another baby, and he was involved in the business. But there came a point where it was so clear that it wasn’t right for either of us.

‘I don’t know whether it’s being slightly a bit Catholic – some of that stuff still being in me was just that idea of not getting divorced. You don’t get divorced. Just stay in it – it’s so much harder to go through all that, to go through a divorce.’

Talking about her current mood on the show, she added: ‘It’s an odd one because I’ve never been happier, but I’m still angry at myself – not really for the failure of the marriage, but for not figuring it out earlier.

‘It’s so destructive. You get one life and that’s an awful lot of time to spend on something that’s not working.

‘I don’t know what kind of conditioning it is that got so in the way of what my instinct was, and what would have been good for everyone. It is being harsh but I feel like I kind of deserve it.

‘So it’s a weird one. Yes it failed, but it had such a positive impact on my life. The stuff that’s less fun is the business of divorce. It’s debilitating, time-consuming, money draining. It’s not fun for anyone.’

The Louis Theroux Podcast is available on Spotify now.