Danniella Westbrook admits taking overdose and suffering drugs relapse after spiralling into depression in bombshell This Morning interview
The ex EastEnders star opened up on suffering with depression when her boyfriend left her and she suffered septicaemia following a botched procedure
DANNIELLA Westbrook has admitted taking an overdose after spiralling into depression and suffering a drugs relapse following a difficult break-up and a series of operations.
The former EastEnders star, 43, appeared on This Morning to discuss photos published recently of her with a bandaged-up nose, revealing she has suffered with septicaemia following a botched procedure with her mouth.
However, following the constant hospital stints and her recent split from ex George Arnold, the star admitted she hit rock bottom recently and tried to end her life.
“I spiralled into a depression after Big Brother. I had the best time in there. I came out so excited to get back on my feet.
“This happened and I haven’t been able to work. This has spiralled me into a depression, and I split from my boyfriend too.”
She explained: “I was so depressed all the time with everything. And one day my boyfriend was just gone. I was like, ‘I didn’t even know you at all then’.
“He had his reasons, and I wasn’t very easy to live with at the time, because I was depressed about the way I looked, not being able to make money, I felt like I was letting him and my kids down. He didn’t see it like that, but in the end it was just too much.
“I did relapse. I thought my whole world was over when he left.”
Asked if she had overdosed, Danniella said: “I tried to overdose a lot when George walked out. ”
As Phil asked what went through her head for her to want to end her life, the actress replied: “I felt like I’d let everybody down. I couldn’t earn money, I couldn’t do the jobs that were being offered to me, that I’d wanted for years.”
She added: “When you relapse and take drugs, you don’t see that, All you see is selfishness and a way out. You carry on taking drugs until you get to that point when you’re so low and on such a comedown that you’re just like ‘I just want to kill myself’. It’s the most selfish horrible thing.”
The star’s friends eventually intervened and called her an ambulance, and she admitted: “I thank the Lord for them.”
Danniella insisted she didn’t overdose on cocaine, but instead took tablets.
As Phil asked if she took the cocaine she relapsed on through her nose, Danniella replied: “No, it was orally.”
Meanwhile, speaking about the ops she’s had on her mouth and nose recently, she added: “I had a few medical procedures, and when I got into Big Brother, one of them really wasn’t working out for me.”
Danniella was removed several times from the house for treatment and dental work.
And asked what the procedure was, she explained: “I had all my top teeth pulled out and implants put in. It started to swell, and I was told it could be septicaemia.”
Pointing to her mouth, she added: “All of my top gum is gone, I’ve had bone grafts and an operation yesterday –which is why I’ve got this plaster on – and I’m having another one tomorrow.
“The whole lot of it just spiralled me into a depression. Coming out of Big Brother should have been my busiest year.”
Danniella admitted she was “nervous” to go to hospital, and it was her dentist who eventually sent her to A&E.
As Holly pointed out that it all happened around August, as Danniella had to have “all her teeth” removed, she added: “They had to take everything out, the screws and everything, to let it heal.
“I had two IVs coming out of me for weeks, and it’s just made me poorly. It’s knocked me for six.”
Danniella has previously opened up on This Morning about a past sexual assault ordeal, her drug addiction, and rehab.
The star was booked in to have the painful abscess that has dogged her for months drained of pus and ooze caused by her recent life-threatening blood infection.
It’s the first time Danniella was seen without the discreet flesh coloured bandage that she’s worn beneath her nose for the past several months.
The gaping wound beneath her nostril has been the cause of much speculation since it first became visible several months ago, with Danniella forced to deny she had suffered a cocaine relapse after the mysterious mark appeared.
While fans worried that her nose was on the verge of collapse after starting to take class A drugs again, it’s all related to some dodgy dental implants that she had fitted as part of Channel 5’s Celebrity Botched Up Bodies.
On the show, Danniella had her teeth removed and implants fitted – but things didn’t go to plan.
The implants gave her a blood infection and she almost died.
Danniella was forced to spend several weeks in hospital, and left fans fearing for her life as she posted sickly updates from her hospital bed.
A source close to the actress told Sun Online: “Danniella has returned to hospital this afternoon to have all of her nose drained of the septicaemia.
“They’ll take out all of the goo and muck and she’ll have the bandage refixed.
“She took the bandage off as she walked in to hospital today but later it should look a lot better and less swollen.
“She won’t be able to have stitches in the hole, she will need to let it heal naturally.
“The septicaemia caused by the dodgy teeth implants has caused a pocket of infection to build up just below her right nostril.
“She’s been in absolute agony, but after today’s procedure and a follow-up next week she should be a bit closer to healing and getting her life back.”
The skin in and around Danniella’s nose was already very fragile after she needed an operation to rebuild her septum in 2000.
A spokesperson for Danniella said: “Contrary to any speculation the injury to Daniella Westbrook is caused by the side effects of surgery and is the subject of clinical negligence litigation.
“She has instructed solicitors to pursue a claim for damages.
“As a health matter we would ask that you respect her privacy.”
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