Darren Day has said he was “like the walking dead” after he relapsed and had a week-long cocaine binge in lockdown last year, following the collapse of his company.
The former Celebrity Big Brother has said he now knows it’s his “last chance” after previously being addicted to cocaine, painkillers and crack cocaine, and doesn’t want to let his family down.
The 53-year-old has revealed in an honest interview that last May, just as the first lockdown was kicking in, he locked himself in his ensuite bathroom for a week and “did about 20 to 30 grammes of cocaine”.
“I barricaded myself in the bathroom for seven days,” he told The Sun. “I didn’t eat at all. I didn’t change my clothes for a week. I didn’t sleep.”
(Image: Getty Images Europe)
He explained he was “so stressed” after not earning since February 2020, and any chance of bringing some money going down the drain when theatres closed and he had to liquidate his company.
Darren wasn’t entitled to Universal Credit and got no furlough, but says: “There are no excuses but I was basically s****ing myself.”
The star lives in Essex with his fiancée Sophie Ladds, who he said would “knock on the door occasionally” but they “didn’t really communicate” during his binge.
(Image: Instagram)
He said: “I lost a week of my life. I did about 20 to 30 grammes of cocaine. I kept going until it was gone.
“I sat at the top of the stairs and I sobbed like I’ve never sobbed before.
“I thought about my kids and I thought about Sophie. I just thought they deserve better. And, maybe, for the first time I thought that I deserve better and I’ve never felt that before.
(Image: Getty Images)
“Sophie said, ‘You are like a zombie.’ I was like the walking dead.”
Darren eventually called pal Robbie Williams, 47, who paid for him to go to rehab in South Africa in 2019.
The stage and screen star said Rob has “never been disappointed” in him, describing him as “just incredible”.
Singer Robbie got Darren in touch with his mental health team as he had stopped going to meetings.
He did some meetings via Zoom – three a day for the first few months – and got a sponsor again.
And now he’s back to looking healthy – and looking forward to getting back on stage.
Surprisingly, a recent trip to a throat specialist told him: “Your [vocal] chords are like they’ve never been sung on and your nose is like nothing ever went up it.”
He’ll be back on stage from February 2020 in the touring production of Footloose.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
