“I Was Breaking Inside” — The Heart-Rending Truth Behind Julie Goodyear’s Private Battle
For decades, Julie Goodyear was larger than life.
The leopard print, the fearless lipstick, the unforgettable laugh — Britain fell in love with Bet Lynch and never let her go. But behind closed doors, a very different story has been unfolding — one of quiet heartbreak, exhaustion, and the slow goodbye no family is ever prepared for.
Now 81, Julie is living with dementia, a diagnosis confirmed last year that has changed everything for the woman who once lit up Coronation Street — and for the man who loves her most.
Her husband, Scott Brand, has now shared the devastating truth about what it was really like trying to care for Julie alone.
At first, he refused any outside help.
“I wasn’t coping,” he admitted softly. “My health was suffering. Being her sole carer was breaking me.”
The illness has stripped away things Julie once did effortlessly. She can no longer manage money — something she had always handled with precision.
“Julie used to run everything,” Scott said. “Suddenly I was responsible for every detail of our life. It felt like being dropped into a world I didn’t recognise.”
It was only when he finally reached out to Alzheimer’s Society that things began to change.
“They became my lifeline,” he said. “I honestly don’t know how I would have survived without them.”
Scott has spoken out as part of The Long Goodbye, a new Alzheimer’s Society campaign that lays bare the cruel reality of dementia — a disease that takes pieces of the person you love, again and again.
For Scott, the loss is not sudden. It’s slow. And it’s relentless.
“I miss the woman Julie was,” he confessed. “Her spark. Her humour. Watching that fade is devastating.”
The couple married in 2007 after meeting by chance when Scott delivered plaster to Julie’s home near Rochdale. She had joined Coronation Street back in 1966 and became one of the show’s most iconic stars before stepping away in 2003.
Today, their life is quieter. Smaller. More fragile.
But the love remains — even as memory fades.
As Alzheimer’s Society’s chief executive Kate Lee explains, families often describe dementia as “living grief” — losing someone slowly while they are still here.
And for Scott, every day with Julie is now precious.
Not because of what has been lost — but because of the love that still, somehow, remains. 
