The 'C World' actress reveals she suffered multiple seizures and got hospitalized as she felt despair following 'humiliating' jokes by Graham Norton at the BAFTA Awards.

• Aug 26, 2020

AceShowbiz - Sheridan Smith suffered a terrifying health scare after she was the butt of a joke made by host Graham Norton at the 2016 BAFTA TV awards.

The star was nominated for the Best Actress gong for her performance in BBC One drama "The C Word", but things got off to a shaky start for Sheridan as comedian Graham seemingly referenced the shutdown of the embattled theatre star's "Funny Girl" production in his monologue.

“Let’s get started because, of course, the sooner we begin, the sooner we can have a couple of drinks... or as they say in theatrical circles, a couple of glasses of technical difficulties," he quipped.

At the time, Sheridan's West End production of "Funny Girl" was halted due to "technical difficulties." But while some fans believed it was down to her drinking after she reportedly slurred lines, she was actually heartbroken that her father, Colin, had been diagnosed with cancer.

Speaking in ITV documentary, "Sheridan Smith: Becoming Mum", the star recalls, "Graham Norton was hosting and made a joke, basically at my expense, about me being a drunk."

"I was so humiliated, you know, it's a room full of your peers. And people you want to work with, or have worked with," she shares, according to The Sun newspaper. "That night for me was like the final straw, before my brain totally went off the deep end."

She continues, "What people didn't realise was that I'd become addicted to anti-anxiety tablets. That night, I took myself off to a hotel on my own. In my crazy mind I thought, 'I don't wanna be in rehab - I'll do it myself' so I went there and I just stopped my tablets."

"What I didn't realise is, that if you stop the tablets abruptly, you seizure," the "Cilla" actress details. "And, to cut a long story short, I got seizures five times and got rushed into A&E."

Fortunately, a friend of the star contacted her, and was on hand to rush to the hotel where Sheridan was staying. "She's the one who got me breathing again," the star admits.

"Sheridan Smith: Becoming Mum" is set to air on 1 September (20).