Overview
- McLean left ITV’s Loose Women in 2020 to focus on a lifestyle brand that collapsed during the Covid pandemic, a move she now says began the chain of financial losses.
- The business failure drained life savings and led the family to sell their UK home, move to rented accommodation in Spain, and sell personal items including engagement rings on resale apps.
- Her health then deteriorated, with long Covid followed by a collapse over Christmas 2024 that doctors found was caused by severe pneumonia, acute kidney injury and sepsis requiring hospital treatment.
- Out of necessity she applied for ordinary jobs such as at Starbucks and received no replies, relaunches professionally as a media trainer, and this week released Shameless to tell her story.
- McLean’s public account highlights how the pandemic hurt early‑stage ventures and how long Covid and visible financial decline can create shame and barriers to work, and she says she remains in recovery while managing debts and rebuilding her life.