— Ex-EastEnders' Danniella Westbrook tells all about downfall
— Star splurged on Versace ashtrays and Gucci bottle holders
— Actress forced to claim benefits and shop in Asda after debts
— Says she is GLAD she lost everything and is happier poor
Soap opera ... Danniella Westbrook has beaten her drug and money demons
Eyevine/Joel Anderson
FORMER EastEnders star Danniella Westbrook has revealed for the first time how she had to sign on the dole after blowing a fortune.
The ex-cocaine addict’s autobiography tells of going from splurging on luxury cars and designer gear to shopping in the 99p Store.The mum of two, 39, — who played Sam Mitchell in the BBC soap from 1990 — famously had to have her rotting nose rebuilt after years of drug abuse.
She racked up huge debts and her husband’s courier firm went bust. Now she says her family life is happier than ever.
“I BOUGHT my husband Kevin a Rolex watch for his 40th birthday with £27,000 of his own money.
Shortly after that he bought a £150,000 Ferrari 430 F1 which turned up on the drive.
At that time in August 2007 I can’t say I was at all surprised. I’d been at home loads of times when new cars turned up, so by now it was hardly a life-changing moment.
Kevin ordered a Porsche once and forgot it was arriving, so we were out when they tried to deliver it.
I would spend £400 a time on Juicy Couture tracksuits or £600 on a Stone Island jacket for my son Kai, when he was seven, and he always wore Prada shoes to school.
The Gucci bits I bought for my daughter Jodie were absolutely beautiful, but ridiculous — £120 for house slippers.
I once spent £85 on a Gucci milk bottle holder for Jodie when she was a baby — and a nappy changing bag for three times that.
We had Versace ashtrays at home and always bought the cleaner a gift from Louis Vuitton at Christmas time.
Kevin bought his minder a Rolex the first Christmas he was with him — and the minder had the cheek to complain it was the wrong one.
And he took him to New Bond Street the next day and paid an extra three grand for the one he did want.
Then there were the cars. Kevin had a Ferrari and a Bentley Flying Spur. During one period I had a Hummer H3, a Range Rover Sport and a Porsche 911 Carrera 4S — all at the same time.
Kevin even bought me a Mercedes SL350 one day and was so excited to hand me the keys. He unveiled this new Merc on the driveway one morning. I slowly walked around it and after a pause, said: “Hmmmm? I wanted the SL55 AMG.”
Role ... Danniella Westbrook as Sam Mitchell in EastEnders
He was furious, called me a “spoilt bitch” and told the guy who dropped it off to take it straight back again.
Our home was in Gads Hill House, near a village called Higham in Kent. It was a seven-bedroom house built in 1834 which we bought for just under £1million in 2002.
We added a 2,000 square-foot indoor pool and gym annexe. It had a vintage chandelier from an old chateau in France, a 40ft dining room and a grand piano at one end of the dining room that nobody played.
We had the pool shipped in from Holland fitted with a wave machine and we installed three waterfalls at the back — and put a massive flat screen TV on the wall so I could watch Jeremy Kyle.
Kai’s bedroom was decked out in Gucci wallpaper.
When I think back now, we were like lottery winners.
Then one day, when we had just flown back from LA in 2007, Kevin was looking for something in the drawer of my desk at home and found all the tax demands that I had been hiding there. He discovered loans I’d taken out and that I’d maxed all my debit and credit cards.
There were also huge debts that the banks had secured against his despatch company, Premier, without asking him.
All the demands just from HMRC alone were for a whopping £250,000.
Kevin had not known, but I also had the bank manager’s mobile number and was ringing him personally to get loans, overdrafts and cards topped up, often straight from Selfridges or Bluewater.
The grand total on what I owed was £470,000 — which his company would have to find to cover, or I was heading for prison.
Shortly after, problems with Kevin’s business began to emerge too and it became obvious we would have to sell the house.
When it all came crashing down, I thought my life was over. By 2009, Kevin’s company — one of the largest courier companies in London — went into administration before being sold.
The following year our family of four moved to Huntington Beach, near LA, and set up a luxury dog grooming parlour named Barkingham Palace.
But large maintenance payments from Kevin’s first marriage saw us fall into debt again and we came home to the UK in October 2011. It was then a case of “s***, we’ve got to pay the rent this month.”
Couple ... Danniella Westbrook and husband Kevin
Retna
We’d gone from Bentley and Porsche sending new cars for us to test drive to scratching around to pay for a rented two-bedroomed house and driving a beaten-up Ford Focus.
My huge spending spree had come to a humiliating end and it was now a case of “sell, sell, sell”. It was time to get rid of anything that could bring in some cash. Our Rolexes, my Chanel watch, Kevin’s Breitling.
My Louis Vuitton luggage went, although I didn’t sell the Burberry stuff — they might be museum pieces one day.
Loads of other designer handbags went, just so we could get a deposit together and pay some rent in advance and have some left over for bills and other running costs.
And it was no private schools for the kids now. It was the best local one we could find.
To top it all off Kevin and I had a fight and for a while he moved out of the house.
I applied for housing benefit and child maintenance before going to the job centre to sign on. But I’m not proud, I don’t care what people think. I had to do it to support my children.
I would hate to sound patronising but I appreciate that for many people Asda and the likes of Poundland are the norm, not rock bottom. But everyone has their rock bottom and I had spectacularly reached mine.
This time it wasn’t through drugs and drinking it was through being too materialistic and the general pressures of life, relationships and a crippling credit crunch.
Strangely I’m genuinely grateful that it happened to us.
Drug battle ... Danniella Westbrook has op to repair her nose after cocaine addiction
It taught me so much about economising... largely thanks to Asda. While we’re at it, let’s also give a big shout out to the 99p Store.
Kai’s school dinner cost £4 a day so it was packed lunches from then on.
The children went from first-class travel all over the world to mum signing on and struggling to put food on the table.
They’ve experienced highs and lows and I think that’s such good grounding for them.
Kai, now 16, and Jodie, 12, have learned that the world doesn’t have to be a material one.
I’ve learned the hard way, but I’ll still be shopping at Asda and checking out the Tesco Value range and heading to Primark when I can.
I only came off benefits last December when I got my fee from the Jeremy Kyle Christmas Special and my two-month stint on Hollyoaks was confirmed.
It’s the little things now that mean so much. Kai and I spent some time together recently, walking around the shops, looking at what we wished we could buy.
And I can honestly say that it was much more enjoyable than simply grabbing it all. We’re genuinely happier without the money.
Right now I have been clean from cocaine for 12 years.
My faith in God has helped me be more pragmatic about the addiction that has caused me so many problems over the years.
I took cocaine during both pregnancies. I lied, cheated, stole, and was unfaithful. I mean, how many commandments do you want to break?
But I had a very high opinion of myself because I’d kicked drugs. With my status — the house, the cars, two lovely kids and a devoted husband — I thought that I had it all.
Well, I’ve still got the kids and the husband and now I realise all the material things don’t matter.
We’re living in the smallest house we’ve ever had and I’m driving a regular car — but I feel truly blessed.
As I approach 40, I feel like life is just beginning. It’s exciting.
I believe God worked it so I now have people around me that I can trust, that he gave me the Hollyoaks job, and all the other exciting opportunities since and beyond, and that he wants Kevin to do something much more useful with his time than making a load of other people wealthy again.”
Danniella on God
MY faith has helped me be more pragmatic about my fame and the addiction.While I believe Kevin is a wholly good person, I often feel so worthless.
I used to be a spiritually open person before I touched drugs and surrounded myself with so much crap. The more people thought I was low-life, the more I immersed myself in darker circles.
I took coke with both pregnancies, lied, cheated, stole and committed adultery.
Just like I’ve prayed for forgiveness, we’ve also prayed for anyone who turned us over. You ask God to put the lightness in and take the darkness out, and I think only God can fix that part of your heart.
Danniella on drugs
I’VE been clean from coke for 12 years, but as long as I live in the UK the stigma of my addiction will never leave me.I still take each day as it comes. Although it is hell, getting clean is the easy part. The hard part is staying clean.
But I’m lucky I haven’t thought about taking coke since I left rehab in Arizona in 2001. They did such a good job on me.
I still get offered it though. I was at a Matt Goss concert recently with a friend and two young girls were talking to us. One casually said: “Do you want a line?”
But I battled for my life to get clean and, to be honest, the thought of taking cocaine frightens the crap out of me.
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