Loose Women favourite Andrea McLean left in December 2020, after 13 years as a host, and on Monday she returned to the ITV series to discuss life after the series

Loose Women welcomed back Andrea McLean to the ITV show, for the first time since she quit the panel almost a year and a half ago.

Andrea returned to the set for the first time, this time as a guest and not on the panel, which she said felt “really nice” but “out of body”.

The host filmed her final episode in December 2020, and on Monday she returned to reveal all on her life post the show.

Speaking of the “brave” decision to try something new, Andrea told her former colleagues about her new book, and how departing her role with them became a “catalyst” for it.

Loose Women welcomed back Andrea McLean to the ITV show, for the first time since she quit ( 
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ITV)

She said: “At the time so many people were saying to me, ‘oh gosh, what a brave thing to do’, I mean also what a stupid thing to do, it’s the middle of a pandemic and you’re quitting your job to follow your dreams.

“At the time I felt like it was just something I needed to do. Now I look back and it was a brave decision, because I remember saying I needed to jump to see if I could fly.

“I didn’t know if I was gonna face plant or fly…. I’m so glad I did, I love what I do.”

Co-host Ruth Langsford also asked about a future TV return ( 
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ITV)
Discussing her fourth book, she added: “I wanted to put a challenge together for the lovely women who joined me, to show them how to do brave things and move away from fear because I was still really scared.

“People thought I’m really brave, I’m not feeling fear but I am, so I put this 10-day challenge together. Ruth, I had no idea whether it was gonna work or not. I knew it worked for me but I didn’t know if it would work for anyone else.”

Andrea also spoke about her nervous breakdown which she suffered three years ago, and this is something she opened up about on Loose Women at the time.

Reflecting on this, she said: “That is what I love about this show, I was able to talk about it, and people reached out to me and I helped other people through that.

“I think I built a little tool kit up in that time, which felt really dark and horrible but what it made me do is realise that one, I never wanna go back to that place again, but also I need to stop looking for… someone else will fix me, I’ll feel better then. Actually you need to learn to fix yourself.”

Co-host Ruth Langsford also asked about a future TV return, and suggested she hadn’t ruled out a Loose Women comeback.

Ruth said to her: “You haven’t shut the door completely on TV or Loose Women…” to which Andrea replied: “Never!”

When it came to saying goodbye all over again, Ruth told her how they all missed her being on the show, with Andrea saying she would have to come back soon.

Ruth told her how they all missed her being on the show, with Andrea saying she would have to come back soon ( 
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ITV)Andrea previously told The Mirror that she still has “no regrets” about leaving the series, as she finds her feet with her new venture.

She said: “I have no regrets at all, 100%. I look back really fondly on my time there, and I was so lucky. I had the best job in the world but it just didn’t fit anymore.

“That’s not a bad thing, we all change and you’re not the same person a decade later. Most of us will outgrow our jobs at some point.”