But you know, I'm not 25 anymore, and I have always said musical theater in particular is a young person's game. It requires energy, mentally and physically, to do it.

I don't listen to so much music now. I did when I was younger. Music is so much part of my work. I like peace and quiet now when I go home.

Oh, it was awful, and I vowed to myself I would never, ever push myself to the edge that much again. It was really frightening. Because absolutely everything seemed to be impossible to deal with, just little things became major - noise, if someone had a radio on, or even the sound of traffic, or being in someone's company for longer than 10 minutes - I started to find it all too much.

You couldn't even write me a paper about the roles you would dream of playing in modern musical theatre.

Just because you are successful in one area does not necessarily mean you're going to be successful in another.

I have been extremely pleased to support the Trust's work in the Lupus Unit ever since. Personal experience also motivated me to become involved to help raise the awareness of the disease and hopefully thereby improve the speed of diagnosis.

My dad always told me that perseverance furthers. He was right.