Kimberley Nixon feels ‘lighter’ after ADHD and autism diagnosis

A Welsh actress says a “huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders” after being diagnosed with autism and ADHD.

Kimberley Nixon, star of Channel 4’s Fresh Meat, developed perinatal obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), after giving birth to her son during the 2020 pandemic.

She said her worries about her baby’s well-being escalated into intense anxiety, with symptoms lasting around two and a half years.

As she began to recover, other lifelong patterns started to make sense, prompting her to seek a diagnosis.

Following a series of in-depth assessments and standard diagnostic tests, she was formally diagnosed with autism and ADHD on Wednesday.

In an interview with BBC Radio Wales, Nixon told presenter Behnaz Akhgar: “We all know what the NHS is like when it comes to waiting lists, so it’s taken a while.

“The assessments are incredibly thorough – they dig into every little nook and cranny of your life and your past.”

The actress, from Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, known for her roles in Wild Child and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, said she now feels “lighter” and is “kinder” to herself, which she described as “really lovely.”

Reflecting on the diagnosis, she said: “It’s that square peg in a round hole feeling.

“I’ve realised it’s not that my brain is wrong – it’s just different.

“I don’t process or interpret things the same way others do.

“That always felt like a problem.

“But now, it just feels like a difference.”

Nixon also spoke about her experience of being diagnosed with perinatal OCD, which is when you experience OCD during pregnancy or in the first year after giving birth.

OCD is a mental health condition characterised by intrusive thoughts and compulsive behaviours.

After years of IVF, she gave birth to her son during the 2020 pandemic, which she described as the “big catalyst” for her struggles.

“I went through a really tough time postpartum,” she said.

“Eventually, I was diagnosed with perinatal OCD – which I didn’t even know was a thing.

“Once you start looking into it, you realise it’s actually quite common.”

Nixon said the condition did not present in the typical ways people associate with OCD.

“I’m not a neat freak, I don’t tick the usual boxes – but with perinatal OCD, I absolutely did,” she said.

“It involved really distressing intrusive thoughts, repetitive thinking, and punishing compulsions – just to relieve the anxiety.”

Last year, she told BBC Radio Wales’ Books That Made Me with Lucy Owen: “I was just convinced that I wasn’t doing things right.

“I wasn’t feeding him right. What temperature is he supposed to be?

“Every time he cried I was just sort of shaking – I just got really hyper vigilant and terrified.”

Since learning more about the condition, Nixon has made it a priority to speak openly about it, saying it’s “not as widely recognised as postnatal depression”.

In Thursday’s interview, Nixon also spoke about her latest role in the ITV series Shardlake.

She plays the character Joan in the four-part drama, which is based on CJ Sansom’s historical mystery novels.

The first season adapts the book Dissolution.

The story follows lawyer Matthew Shardlake as he investigates a murder at a remote monastery during the reign of Henry VIII.

Nixon, a graduate of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, said the series was filmed in Budapest and it felt like “a little Hungarian Welsh college reunion”, as fellow cast members Arthur Hughes and Anthony Boyle also trained at the same institution.