Westbrook to reveal her drugs hell
Danniella Westbrook may look like she's sitting pretty - she's happily married, a devoted mum and a TV career that's on the up - but not so long ago she was at death's door.
In five's documentary, Danniella Westbrook: EastEnders, Drugs and My New Nose, set to be shown on October 31, the actress gives her most frank interview to date. She discusses the cocaine addiction that almost killed her and the struggle she endured to get a clean bill of health.
The programme also follows the final reconstruction operation on the star's nose, which was damaged by years of drug abuse.
Westbrook shot to fame as feisty teen Sam Mitchell in the Walford-set soap at the tender age of 16, and was described by her on-screen father-in-law Mike Reid as "a breath of fresh air". But that was where she admits her troubles started.
By 1993 she was taking a gram of cocaine a day and was fired in February the same year. In 1995, show bosses allowed her to come back, but her drug intake increased rapidly, leading friend and co-star Martine McCutcheon to worry.
In the documentary, Westbrook admits that by 1996, she was on the verge of collapse after her weight plummeted to six stone, but refused to admit she had a problem.
She was finally fired from EastEnders in 2000, and that same year the full extent of the damage done to her nose was revealed by a damaging paparazzi shot.
Just a year later, Westbrook turned her life around. She entered rehab, before giving birth to her daughter and finding lasting love with husband Kevin.
Since then, she's appeared on I'm A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! (although being apart from her family prompted the diminutive blonde to walk out of the jungle), I'm Famous and Frightened on Livingtv and five's Cosmetic Surgery Live.
"Now I can walk around with my head in the air, smile and be proud," says Westbrook.
dailysnack
