Dream Build: Charlotte Church discusses mother’s bipolar disorder on new show at wellness retreat

Charlotte Church has candidly spoken about her mother Maria’s ‘plethora’ of mental health issues as they visited the site of Charlotte’s wellness retreat on her new show Dream Build.

The singer, 36, said Maria, who has bipolar disorder, has had a life filled with ‘trials and tribulations’ as she gave her a tour of the site where she is building a wellness retreat.

Church has previously spoken about her Maria’s mental illness, which saw her struggle with excessive drinking and self-harm when Charlotte was growing up.

Candidly discussing Maria’s mental health on Dream Build, Charlotte said her mother was on a ‘healing journey’ as the pair looked around the site of Charlotte’s wellness retreat, where she hopes others can visit to ‘heal’.

In last Wednesday’s episode, Charlotte gave Maria a tour of the 16th century mansion in Elan Valley, Wales, that she has invested £1million into to transform it into a swanky retreat.

Charlotte told her mother she wants the retreat to be a place where people can recharge and try to come to term with their struggles, before discussing Maria’s own mental health issues.

‘[Maria’s] own life has been full of trials and tribulations, she’s been diagnosed with a plethora of mental health issues over the years and is on her own journey,’ she said.

Maria expressed some concerns about her daughter’s plans for the wellness retreat, with Charlotte saying that her worry comes from her own ‘anxiety’ and ‘fear’.

Charlotte said although her mother comes from a ‘place of love’ she often doesn’t find the words for her concern, saying she ends up phrasing it as if it is a ‘stupid idea’.

‘My mum often gets very anxious, she gets really, really anxious and fearful about things, but then she can’t quite put it into the words that I know she means. The words of “I’m just worried and I don’t want you to mess it up”,’ she said.

‘Sometimes it comes out all in a tangle, which is like “what a f**king stupid idea”. But really it is from a place of love, but she’s just anxious and nervous about if it’s going to work, if its going to be a success.’

The media personality said although she is convinced that her mother will love the retreat when its done, Maria has concerns that she is ‘ruining her life’. 

She explained: ‘When she really gets it, and when all the house is done, she’s going to totally love it. But at the moment, I think she’s still a bit like “oh my God, have you ruined your life?”‘

In a bid to create her dream retreat, Charlotte was left with a £750,000 mortgage and a £300,000 investment from Maria and her stepfather James, ‘because I gave them a whack of money when I was a teenager’.

But during the visit, Maria expressed her concerns about Charlotte’s finances, saying she won’t make enough money from the retreat to keep it afloat with just eight rooms charging at £250 each.

Maria said: ‘You’re not going to take enough income really, if you are looking at doing it for £250 per person. You should be looking to turn over about five and six a week, easy. These rooms are so huge.’

But Charlotte insisted that she wants anyone to be able to attend the wellness retreat, including their family and friends, and doesn’t want the cost to be an obstacle.

While Charlotte was giving Maria a tour of the property, she showed her one bathroom which featuring a stunning freestanding bathtub.

Maria quickly fell in love with the room and climbed into the bath, before saying the only thing that would make it better would be ‘slats’ to put a wine glass on.

But Charlotte replied: ‘This is a dry site, no booze.’

Laughing at the completely shocked look on her mother’s face, Charlotte explained that people will be attending to ‘heal’ from their issues, including alcoholism. 

‘This is a healing retreat centre, and there will be people healing from all sorts of things, including things like alcoholism,’ she said. 

‘You can drink everywhere, there are very few places you can’t have that as a temptation.’

Charlotte has previously spoken about her mother’s mental health on Kate Garraway‘s Life Stories, saying Maria suffered a nervous breakdown when she left home.

She confessed she feels terrible after running away from home aged 16 following an argument with her mother, who had caught her smoking.

The fall-out was so severe, it resulted in the B&B owner suffering a nervous breakdown after the former child star refused to speak to her and stepfather James for nearly two years.

Charlotte told Kate: ‘As far as I am concerned, I needed to be free. I felt I had to be this other eternally young, innocent little girl. I just had to cut the ties.’

The Crazy Chick songstress went on to admit she doesn’t feel guilty as she has never believed in the emotion but is ‘so proud’ of her mum for putting up with her.

She told the Good Morning Britain presenter of her mum: ‘I think that she is fire and like a phoenix, she has risen from the flames.’

Watching in the audience, a forgiving Maria said: ‘I love you. I love her, I’m so proud of her, we’ve been through so much… I love her to bits, I love her billions and billions.’

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Charlotte has previously spoken candidly about her mother’s battle with mental illness as she was growing up. 

In her darkest moments Maria’s condition drove her to excessive drinking and self-harm. Maria, who has bipolar disorder, has also previously attempted suicide.  

Opening up about the traumatic time when Charlotte left home, Maria said: ‘When Charlotte left home, it was very, very brutal and very sudden, she broke my heart, I ended up having a nervous breakdown.

Adding that she is still in therapy, Maria added: ‘It’s early days but I’m trying to do something about it now, I’ve always suffered with mental health issues, mine are quite complex.’

‘We stayed in Cardiff which was really important, if I’d have moved her to London, I think that glitz lifestyle could have got the better of us, but we always went back to our roots.’ 

Elsewhere, Charlotte’s Really show sees cameras follow her as she invests more than £1million of her life savings in a bid to transform Laura Ashley’s former home in Powys, Rhydoldog House, into a retreat.

Charlotte found fame aged 11 and was once reported to have amassed a £25million fortune. But the Cardiff-born star has previously claimed she would ‘always have to work’ to fund her ‘lifestyle’ and is more recently reported to be worth £5.6million.

‘It blows my mind and fills my heart that I own it now,’ she said in series one of the programme.

‘I have pretty much spent my entire life savings on this.’ 

Rhydoldog House boasts seven bedrooms with stunning views of the surrounding countryside, and also has a 200-year-old barn which will be turned into guests houses, as well as a large hall for gatherings. 

The property also boasts its own helicopter pad plus a hidden rooftop hot tub. 

In June 2021, Charlotte revealed that applications were open to share in her dream of ‘a system of non-hierarchical participatory democracy’ at the home.

Her aim is to build a ‘zero-emissions, off-grid’ healing retreat centre with spiritual healing practices such as sound ceremony and forest bathing 

She said: ‘There’s 47 acres of magical wonderousness in mid Wales. We are going to set up a small democratic community here for the next year basically.

‘We are going to be focused on different wellbeing practices like meditation and reconnection with nature. Probably do a bit of chanting at dawn.

‘Send us an application if you are interested in living in a community, doing things a bit differently and reconnecting with yourself, with community and with nature.’ 

The house currently gets 80 per cent of its energy from an onsite hydro-mill and there are plans to install solar panels to make up the other 20 per cent.

Charlotte, alongside Black Cat Architects and Arbor Architects, have planned for a wild moon garden of white plants, with guests handing over their shoes at the entranceway- based on Japanese design called a ‘Shikii Threshold’. 

The planning documents state: ‘A member of staff washes your feet. When you are ready you step over the Shikii threshold to be greeted in the welcome hall and welcomes to the course.’

Guests will arrive via a sweeping, tree-lined driveway to the landscaped, biodiversity moon garden at the front of the seven-bed property, replacing the existing car park which will be moved to the rear.

‘By reinstating the area in front of the house as a landscaped garden, the main entrance to the house will become much more legible and connected with the landscaping,’ the proposal says.

‘This will create a ceremonial arrival, allowing guests to immerse themselves in the wild nature of the site, unimpeded by cars and back of house facilities.’

From there, they will pass over the Shikii Threshold following the foot-bathing ritual. For the remainder of their stay, guests will be expected to use a ‘boot room’ entrance. 

‘Both ceremonial and boot room entrances have significance within the building,’ the plans state.

‘The ceremonial entrance being the very first activity of the retreat stay and the boot room being the boundary between internal and external activities.’  

Surrounded by steeply-sloping ancient woodland, dramatic rocky outcrops and waterfalls, it offers stunning views to distant mountains from an elevated spot above the town of Rhayader.

Charlotte believes the picturesque backdrop will allow people to ‘reconnect with nature’, with the proposals stating the retreat will aim to: ‘Create spaces that encourage people to reconnect with nature; Encourage social gathering and connection; Promote the importance of ritual, ceremony and rights of passage. 

‘Consider site resilience and explore options for improving the energy performance of the site.’ 

In early 2021, Charlotte unveiled her dream to create a wellness retreat with spaces for mixed martial arts, spiritual healing, yoga and outdoor pursuits. 

The application also includes plans for a pond, a car port and solar panelling.

A separate application revealed Charlotte’s plans for four log cabins and a bath house in woodlands, using the trunks and root systems of living and felled trees as natural foundations and supports.