A Loose Women panellist has opened up about her financial struggles and revealed she applied to work at Starbucks after losing her life savings in a business deal. Andrea McLean, who co-presented on ITV's daytime chat show from 2007 to 2020, admitted she lost everything after setting up a lifestyle company with her husband Nick Feeney in 2020.

The company was a life-advice blog aimed at women and served as a shopping site, selling 'female-focused' products from female-owned businesses. They also launched an app where subscribers would pay a fee of £19.99 to have access to confidence building, how to focus on a good night's sleep and methods of how to become a calm parent. However, the business did not take off, and the couple were forced to mortgage their home and took out loans.

In her book Shameless: Finding Freedom And Resilience Through Failure, the 56-year-old said: "I didn't actually add up in total but it was a lot. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of pounds. [My bank account] It was less than £2.60. It was minus. And I can’t remember an exact moment, because it just went on and on and on."

Andrea sold her clothes, furniture and even her engagement ring. She also tried applying jobs at Starbucks, saying: "I was prepared to go through the whole, 'Are you that lady from the telly? Oh how the mighty have fallen!' thing." However, they never replied to her application.

But now she is debt-free and living with her family in Spain after turning her life around. She recently enjoyed a small change in fortunes, when she found £60 in an old wallet and used it to treat her family to a Chinese takeaway. She shared: "We hadn’t done that for a good two years. And gosh, to tell the kids ‘We’re getting a Chinese’. It felt like the most amazing thing."

In March, Andrea told fans in an Instagram Story that her main purpose for writing the book was so people no longer feel "rubbish" about themselves. She said: "This time around I've written about everything. Everything that I've got wrong. All the mistakes I have made.

"I thought if I'm going to shine a light on one thing and the first thing was the financial fallout, sod it, shine a light on everything and I don't need to feel ashamed."

Andrea’s book, Shameless: Finding Freedom and Resilience Through Failure, is now available on Amazon.