James Argent has revealed he is a cocaine addict who has nearly died twice after overdosing on the party drug.
The TOWIE star, 32, told in an interview how he has been addicted to the drug for seven years – causing his friends and family to fear he might die.
He revealed in an interview with The Sun that his girlfriend Gemma Collins, 39, called emergency services twice last year who had to kick down his door to save his life.
Speaking of his first overdose in October, he said: “I locked myself in my house and took drugs for three days straight on my own in the pitch black.
“I was at rock bottom. My heart was beating out of my chest, my nose was bleeding, I was shaking and my breathing was terrible.
James Argent first appeared in TOWIE in 2010 (Image: LightRocket via Getty Images)
“My family were banging on the door screaming, ‘Open up’ but I wasn’t answering the door to anyone. They feared I’d overdosed and was dead in the house.”
He added that he remembered being so scared as paramedics did test as he had “so much paranoia and psychosis”.
Arg’s addiction continued and he had another near-fatal overdose just two months later, the night before his birthday, and had to be saved again by paramedics – after Gemma and his parents desperately banged on his door.
He said: “Gemma called the ambulance and they broke through the door and did all the checks on me and this time they said, ‘There’s absolutely no way you’re staying here.”
The TOWIE star, 32, told in an interview how he has been addicted to cocaine for seven years (Image: real_arg/Instagram)
Arg, who has recently quit TV to became a full-time singer, claimed paramedics dropped a huge bombshell – telling him “you’ve done so much and your heart is so f***** you could die”.
He was taken to hospital in an ambulance accompanied by his mum where he was put on a drip and his pals still took his phone in case he called his dealers.
Arg started dabbling in cocaine after shooting to fame in Towie in 2010.
When he went missing in August 2014 after being booked for him to appear at a pool party in Majorca, he loved ones first feared he had a drug problem.
James binged on booze or food, and thinks the core to his addiction was trying to hide the pain of his break-ups (Image: real_arg/Instagram)
Arg told how his flight was at 4am so in his “addict brain” he thought he “couldn’t go to sleep at 11pm and only have two hours’ sleep”.
He said the “thought of going to an airport, sitting with hundreds of people on a plane, made him freak out” so he decided to go to a hotel in East London where he did cocaine all morning.
He was then gobsmacked when a cleaner came into his room and told him that he was missing and a TV appeal had be launched to find him.
James after his impressive recent 5stone weight loss (Image: real_arg/Instagram)
He said: “Then — I’ll never forget it — I left my room to ask a cleaner for a charger and when she came back she said, ‘Arg you’re missing, it’s all over Sky News and the internet.”
Arg says after starting off doing cocaine in nightclubs, his £1.3million house became the base for his binges.
He also told how his binges ended his relationship with co-star Lydia Bright and his job on Towie plus other high-profile TV work.
He also binged on booze or food, and thinks the core to his addiction was trying to hide the pain of his break-ups plus anxiety about weight.
Arg, now 18st after losing 5st recently, also binged on booze or food due to his addiction – telling how how it helped him “escape feelings and get away from it all”.
In a bid to get clean he had four stints in rehab, including at The Priory.
Gemma Collins and James Argent at the ITV Palooza! (Image: WireImage)
He started a cycle of drug-taking, rehab, six to nine months clean, before relapsing.
He said his latest bid to get clean was sparked after he realised he was spending Christmas Day alone and still using.
He attended a boot camp in Thailand – The River in Chiang Mai – where he first time he took rehab seriously.
He now feels it is the right time to open up, like other celebrity ex-addicts and old how he now feels ready to resume his career, and sing with his group, The Arg Band.
Arg said: “I want to own it the way that people like Davina McCall, Russell Brand and Robbie Williams have. I look up to those people and they inspire me.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
