Danniella Westbrook's wild life – drug battle, Jeremy Kyle breakdown and £500k face op

Danniella Westbrook has never been one to shy away from allowing the public a glimpse into her private life.

The EastEnders star, who played Sam Mitchell in the soap until 2016, began modelling at the tender age of seven before making her way into the acting world – and joined the Sylvia Young Theatre School aged just eight.

Beginning her career in West End productions and various adverts, Danniella seemed on an easy stride into fame, and made her name in EastEnders at the age of 16.

But things sadly began to go downhill as Danniella lapsed into drug addiction – a battle she has long been candid about in an attempt to raise more awareness around the issue.

To mark the reign of the new Sam Mitchell Kim Medcalf, Daily Star takes a look inside Danniella’s life away from EastEnders.

Early life

Danniella’s life has never been easy, as she was bullied at school for getting into acting.

According to sources, Danniella’s parents were forced to pull her out of school after one cruel bully cut off her hair – and instead she headed to private school.

Early on in her career, Danniella appeared in various adverts – including one for fast food giant McDonalds, in which she appeared as a school girl eating chips.

She also appeared in adverts for ASDA, Weetabix and Coca-Cola – before becoming the face of high street brand Tammy Girl.

Before making it as Sam Mitchell, Danniella did grace the EastEnders set once before as an extra, and was tasked with rollerskating across Albert Square.

In an eerie prediction, her local paper printed the snap with the caption: “Who knows, one day she may be the show’s star!”

Drug battle

As with any addiction battle, Danniella has relapsed in her fight against drugs – but even managed 14 years sober before 2014.

She has spent an estimated £250,000 on cocaine, which dissolved her septum and forced her to go under the knife for reconstructive surgery.

The TV star admitted she was so deep into her addiction battle that she even took 5g of coke a day while pregnant with her son Kai – and used drugs while in labour.

At her lowest point, Danniella admitted she attempted suicide several times, before heading in and out of rehab later in her life.

She eventually realised that she didn’t want to die, and dedicated herself to getting clean for herself and her loved ones.

Surgery journey

In order to reconstruct her septum – that’s the cartilage between the nostrils – the actress went under the knife earlier this year.

She underwent a similar surgery in 2018, which sees a part of her rib implanted into her face to rebuild the lost bone structure.

Another op is to combat damage to her cheek which occurred after dental work gone wrong.

She told The Sun’s Fabulous magazine of the surgeries: “I hate the way I look. I’m constantly made fun of and trolled for it.

“It will change the way I look, but also help my breathing and sinus issues. So it’s about health as well.”

Danniella’s final nose surgery will take place at the end of May 2022.

She has since revealed that she will be getting £500k worth of surgery for her face on the NHS , telling the Sun: ” “Plastic surgeons wanted £500,000 to change my face, so I thought I was never going to get it done. It was only because I went into intensive care before Christmas.

“I couldn’t breathe because I had a cold. There was a build up of fluid and after I fell asleep I couldn’t wake up properly and ended up in ICU.

“That’s why I’m doing this. I need this surgery to survive. It’s not for vanity, this is about my health. It hampers my lifestyle on a day to day basis.”

Jeremy Kyle stint

Though ITV’s axed programme The Jeremy Kyle Show has found itself in hot water recently, Danniella insisted the show looked after her after she appeared on it in 2019.

Danniella appeared on the show twice – one in a segment called ‘The price of fame: Danniella Westbrook’ and another that never aired after the show’s axe.

The star admitted she was “very ill, riddled with drug addictions and mental health problems” at the time of her appearance, confessing it made her “very vulnerable”.

Danniella broke down in tears on the programme while discussing her battle with drugs, and is the first to admit that she originally only went on for financial reasons.

Speaking to Jeremy Vine on his Channel 5 show in 2019, she said: “On the day, my son was on the phone saying, ‘If you go on there, I’ll never speak to you again, you’re going to kill yourself, you’re only going on for drugs and money’ and he was right. But I didn’t care.

“I wasn’t in the right frame of mind. I went on it at the time for the fee, I wanted the money.”

But she said the show “really looked after her”, and spoke to host Jeremy and psychologist Graham after her rehab journey.

Car crash and arrest

Danniella found herself questioned by police back in 1998, after a car crash which nearly blinded her.

The star was just 24 at the time, and travelling with her then-partner Robert Fernandez over the crash, as Fernandez was banned from driving and without insurance at the time.

Danniella was released without charge after a 90 minute interrogation as to whether or not she knew her boyfriend was disqualified.

She was forced to undergo more surgeries as a result of the crash, as she hadn’t been wearing a seatbelt at the time and was thrown against the windscreen of her new Rover 214i.

The car was written off, with Danniella undergoing surgeries to remove glass from her face and eye.

It isn’t the only time Danniella has been detained by police, as in 2018 she was arrested in Spain while trying to board a flight back to the UK, over alleged driving offences.

Danniella’s representatives told The Mirror at the time: “We can confirm our client Miss Westbrook was arrested by national police at Malaga airport last night and detained for 14 hours in custody before being bailed today by the court in Malaga this morning.

“We can not at this time disclose any more information other than she has been left feeling very scared. She’s tired and looking forward to returning back to the UK next week.”

And that same year, The Sun reported that she had been arrested for “malicious communications and witness intimidation” in Hertfordshire during an investigation into accusations she took £10,000 from her interior design friend and attempted to “destroy her business on social media”.

Mystery man

Danniella recently shut down rumours she was dating the father of former TOWIE star Grace Andrews, Terry Andrews.

And it turns out that her real boyfriend is currently in jail, with Danniella promising to wait for him outside the gates.

Posting on Instagram earlier this month, she shared a snap of a luxury hotel bathroom and a bathtub filled with rose petals, writing: “11 months till he’s home and we get to go here.”

She confirmed to fans that Terry is not her boyfriend, explaining of snaps of the pair together: This is not my boyfriend. It was a working lunch. My boyfriend is in JAIL!!”

Glam new look

Since getting clean again, Danniella has completely transformed – and now has a glam new look.

The star tends to wear her blonde tresses loose around her face while posing for selfies on social media, and last year looked ultra glam as she posed in a restaurant wearing a camel cardigan and black top.

The stunner matched her outfit with a navy blue trilby and opted for a bold make-up look featuring a dark smokey eye and bright red manicure as she grinned for the camera.

Speaking about her intentions to stay clean, she wrote online: “I know the best years of my whole adult life were the 14 years I spent clean and sober […] So today I’m saying, ‘Hello, I’m Danniella and I’m a recovering drug addict.’”

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk