Danniella Westbrook reveals she took cocaine on EastEnders set and collapsed in Queen Vic
Danniella Westbrook reveals she took cocaine on EastEnders set and collapsed in Queen Vic
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Danniella Westbrook has admitted to "taking gear" on the iconic set of EastEnders in a shocking revelation about her drug addiction. The Sam Mitchell star, 51, was once the toast of the BBC when she rocked up on the iconic soap as a fresh-faced 16-year-old playing the bubbly blonde little sister of Phil [Steve McFadden] and Grant [Ross Kemp] Mitchell.
However, tragically, drugs took a hold over Danniella - who admitted to taking 42 grams of cocaine a week during her lowest ebb - and she lost her job on EastEnders during her high-profile battle with the drug. Opening up about life as a cocaine addict, she admitted to "taking gear" on the set of the soap during her second stint on the show in the nineties. Recalling the terrifying aftermath, the mum-of-two claims she once passed out on set in Elstree after tumbling down the stairs of the Queen Vic pub.
Speaking to the Criminal Connection podcast, Danniella says: "The second time I was back, I was doing gear. They had to get rid of me in the end because I passed out once. I had a cocaine convulsion and I fell from the top of the stairs in the Vic and I just passed clean out and Ross Kemp caught me at the bottom.".
The actress sent shockwaves through the showbiz industry when she photographed on a night out in the nineties with a huge chunk of her septum missing. Having been asked to leave EastEnders in 1995, the producers asked Danniella back to the soap a second time. However, the actress was regularly using cocaine and it began to affect her work. Due to her off-screen difficulties and alleged timekeeping issues, the producers of EastEnders terminated her contract and she was written out of the soap again in 1996.
