Head & Heart: Break-ups, Breakdowns and Being Rosie

by Helen Flanagan

Head and Heart is the powerful, frank and moving memoir from Helen Flanagan

Helen’s story begins in January 2024, at the lowest point in her life following a breakdown. Years of stress and struggle against the pressures of fame and her own mental health have left her shattered. The only way forward is to reflect and rebuild.

Head and Heart is a powerful, frank, and moving memoir that follows Helen from childhood right up to present day. From her life-changing audition for Coronation Street and the incident that led to her leaving Rosie Webster forever to her relationship with her fiance Bristol Rovers’ winger Scott Sinclair and its eventual collapse and becoming a mum to her three children.

In her memoir, Helen retraces every bump in the road and reveals the real woman behind the constant headlines. And, having experienced more ups and downs than most, Helen hopes to help others facing struggles in their lives and to show there really is a way back from rock bottom.

255 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 29, 2026

Reviews

[Rich ✧ ✭ ✧ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Part of book reviewing is sometimes having to share honest feelings about the ones you didn’t gel with. This is one of them for me.

I love a memoir and learning about other people but for me personally, I couldn’t find a thing to enjoy about this one. I found it to be very negative, self-unaware & completely out of touch with the average reader.

It read like a diary of each person who has upset Helen at some point during her life. It became so repetitive to hear so many negative encounters with people again and again… Barbara Knox told her off for not learning her lines, her mentor told her off for this, director for that, makeup ladies for something else… Tony Wood, Antony Cotton, Phil Collinson, Ryan Thomas, Charlie Brooks, Yvette Fielding… it felt endless. I’d personally have preferred more positives stories. It felt like she was trying to snitch on everyone who’s ever upset her!!

When she defended Roxanne Pallet, I should have just DNF’d it tbh. What on earth. Totally misplaced sympathy there. Wild.

At times the balance between life and her mental health took such unexpected jumps. The writing felt all over the place and very inconsistent. One minute she’s trying to tell showbiz stories and a page later she’s talking about self harming with knives and eating disorders - but also never really providing any depth on that journey, just snippets here and there. I’d actually been really interested to hear about her mental health journey but the documenting/writing of it felt disjointed throughout and this disappointed me.

Some of her discussions about money were totally out of touch with the average reader imo. If she wanted sympathy for blowing all her money multiple times on designer clothes, bags and £20k holidays, that failed on me. She talks of being bailed out multiple times which felt frustrating to read. I got the impression she lives well beyond her means and never learns any lessons along the way.

There was just too much negativity in the book (mental health stuff aside) for me. I’ve already mentioned the stories about people upsetting her, but about 100 pages on constant arguments with Scott, - breaking up, getting back together x 50 - felt so draining. Then amongst more chaos, she goes back to Corrie against her families wishes, then proceeds to moan about the cast who hated her, how she hated the storylines, complained she wasn’t given enough… It just all made her sound like a spoilt brat tbh.

Very disappointing and I’m sorry I couldn’t find any praise.

[Zoey Curato · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really surprised by this one. Ive watched Coronation Street and I saw Helen struggle in the jungle but I didn't expect much from her book however it was really interesting and so honest which is rare for a celebrity book. I like how she doesn't sugar coat things that may make her look bad or be embarrassing and instead just lays it all out on the page. I found this a really interesting read and would recommend it to anyone who has watched Helen on TV.

[Angela Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanted to read this book as I’ve always followed Helen’s career and enjoyed watching her on I’m a celebrity.

I was really surprised with the book and how open and honest she was. I liked the fact that she discussed her mental health and what conditions she had as this could be very helpful to people.

Overall a great honest read which I would recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley, Helen Flanagan and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

[Bex · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like Helen so I was looking forward to reading this, she kept it raw and real throughout this book and speaks a lot about her mental health battles. It’s awful to read about how she was treated by the press, other celebrities and her ex partner!

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a Corrie fan and being from the same town as Helen, I really wanted to read this. This is an honest & real account of her life and she is really brave to share so much of her life and mental health battles. 4.5 🌟

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked it. It was a really easy read. I’ve always loved Rosie Webster on Corrie and have followed Helen’s career since. This was honest, she opens up about her struggles with mental health and doesn’t shy away from telling us who has been a dick to her i.e. Anthony Cotton and David Haye. An enjoyable read, I would recommend if you’re a fan.

[Leah Bee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was written well and with humour, and it was also very honest about the thoughts she struggles with, which I thought was brave to include in the book.

She mentions a prescription medication misuse throughout the years that she has recovered from and explains that she has never taken drugs despite people thinking she does. Because it’s peoples reactions in the book i question how much she might have been misusing her medication. She seems quite naive and detached from what is happening around her but I thought it was a really honest book and a good read