Danniella Westbrook said the help and support from therapists and support groups have encouraged her to live life to the fullest.
Former EastEnders actress, Danniella Westbrook, joined This Morning's Dermot and Alison to give a positive update on her life. Penning a memoir to document her relapse and battles with addiction, Danniella admitted, that despite the gloomy topic, she's feeling happier than ever.
She said: "I think putting the drugs and ego down was the hard bit. It's a really hard balance but I found a fantastic therapist from north London who just said to me 'You need to deal with all this' and she was like 'No, you need to or you're not going to have a future' and she slowly started to pick away at me."
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Danniella has been in the spotlight for over three decades, kickstarting her career with multiple fashion ads before appearing in EastEnders at 16. She said despite having such a lengthy career, she is still anxious about returning to the studio as it brings up a lot of bad memories.
She added: "For me, coming into the studio is hard work because as I was growing up as a child in the industry, it was quite traumatic for me. But you don't drive along looking in the rear view mirror you glance at it to check yourself and move on.
"Ego is a huge thing as we know in this industry. I look at it and it's such a big message to get across to people and when people reach out I just say 'What area are you in' and I just reach out to the local services on their behalf. Unfortunately, the NHS system doesn't have a huge amount of resources but there are rehabilitation systems that you can go to and get well."
The 48-year-old has endured a very public battle with addiction but commended her 12 Step programme for its incredible work. Dermot attested to this and gave his own gratitude to the programme after witnessing their work on his friend.
Alison asked Danniella if people reach out given her story of addiction to which she confirmed. She said even though people are complimentary toward her, she still feels awkward about helping others as she doesn't believe she's qualified to do so. She added: "I thought I couldn't talk to people because I'm being a fraud but I have to say I'm not a therapist and I can only point you in the right direction. I'm a real empath and take people on board. I don't sponsor people but I do help them where I can.
"I'm doing a holistic workshop and getting people to learn about themselves and to stay wholesome but we can all do a bit of therapy now again which is the reason I wrote this book."
Danniella is currently writing a memoir with the help of her son and together, will document their views on her journey. She clarified they both will curate their own chapter on a topic, giving an insight into how their experiences vary.
She said: "It was his idea, it's only 10 chapters about how my relapse is set up in my head and then he'll do it from his point of view. I really like it but it's really hard work. I'm thinking I'm going to get a ghostwriter to come in and re-arch the end of it."
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