SOPH: I BEAT MY DEMONS
I'M A Celebrity star Sophie Anderton last night told how she beat her drug and booze demons in the jungle.
She said: "I might not have won the show but I've won my own battle."
The stunning 27-year-old supermodel is overwhelmed that she managed to last 13 days in the Australian bush.
A year ago she would fly into temper rages after snorting lines of cocaine and chasing them down with vodka and Valium.
But today she feels like a new person and is proud of the way she kept her cool during her darkest hours in the jungle.
She squealed: "Yes. Yes. Yes. I've done it. I'm so proud that I've shown everyone I've finally beaten my drug addiction.
"I feel liberated and I've never felt happier."
Sophie looks fit, healthy and beautiful - a far cry from the star I helped battle her drug addiction last year.
But Sophie said of her experience: "This was a lot harder than going off drugs and drink.
"I just wanted to get out of there. I was worried something was going to bite, worried where to put my feet and going barking insane."
She was voted off the ITV show, leaving Fran Cosgrave, Joe Pasquale, Janet Street-Porter and Paul Burrell to fight it out.
And she told me earlier: "I'd never have imagined I'd have survived the vile grub and the venomous snakes with a bunch of strangers, without turning to cocaine.
"I'd also probably have needed at least one bottle of vodka a day to get through jungle life this time last year."
And last night she paid tribute to her fellow contestants. "I've left just four people in there - all like family. Joe is the quiet one. Janet's the bossy mother type. I love her to pieces. Paul was my Peter Pan and Fran was like a brother.
"They're all great people and I wish they could all come back winning it. I'm proud of them all."
She added: "In the beginning Janet and I were sizing each other up. I was an annoying factor. She said to me: 'Be more of a human being, Sophie, and not so conscious of the cameras'.
"I learnt an incredible amount from her - she's an incredible woman.""
Yesterday, as she tucked into her first hearty meal for nearly a fortnight, celebrity stylist Aidee Phelan chopped off her long locks for a new drastic look - to symbolise her new-found liberation.
At the height of her addiction, Sophie wasted away to six stone. Reaching the depths of despair, she revealed to the Sunday Mirror last year how she had even been lured into becoming a vice girl.
Yesterday the former Gossard bra model was reunited with her nightclub-owner boyfriend, Mark Alexiou, who had fought hard to help her kick her cocaine habit.
The lovers were whisked off to their plush hotel, where Alexiou presented her with a dragonfly-shaped pendant and £30,000 platinum necklace encrusted with diamonds.
Sophie said: "Mark and me are inseparable and are always making love when we are at home. Going without sex for two weeks was a big test for me. Mark has been my rock."
Sundaymirror