Jamie Laing's sister Emily has bravely opened up about her struggles with alcohol addiction, in a deeply personal letter addressed to "the sober curious & to my life."
In the letter, Emily detailed how she had struggled with alcoholism for a number of years but had not realised how bad it had gotten until she hit her "breaking point" at the end of 2021.
According to OK! Emily published the letter on JomoClub, a subscription service for alcohol free drinks. Shey wrote: "New Years Eve 2021 was my breaking point. I was dumped fifteen minutes before midnight by the man I unequivocally believed was the great love of my life.
"What followed was an unsuccessful suicide attempt and forced entry into primary care."
Emily then described how she "merrily believed that there was nothing wrong" until she got "literal black and white evidence of my poor, battered liver".
She recalled: "Had my liver been tickety-boo, I cannot guarantee that I would have emerged from recovery and remained sober. It was the literal evidence that saved me."
Revealing that becoming sober is the best thing she's done in her life, Emily says that rather than waking up to a drink she now wakes up to her cat and couldn't be happier.
Like his sister, Jamie has also been open about his own mental health struggles in the past, having previously shared that this was a factor in his decision to leave Made In Chelsea.
Speaking to best pal Spencer Matthews on his Big Fish Podcast earlier this year, Jamie said: "I had such bad anxiety doing that show for so many years. I love Made In Chelsea, like you do, and we thought it would be so fun to know what it was like to be famous, we were obsessed with that."
Opening up further about how he felt abandoned as a child, following his parents' divorce, Jamie added: "I used to lie in bed in my boarding school and not really know why I was there, and I would get a lump in my throat all the time, and couldn't really swallow at night time.
"If a doctor had come and said to me 'oh by the way that's anxiety', I would have gone 'oh okay fine...'. I didn't know what it was. I thought people had abandoned me, so therefore my entire life I was so afraid that people were always going to leave, and I still have it now."
*Frank offers confidential advice about drugs and addiction (email frank@talktofrank.com, message 82111 or call 0300 123 6600) or the NHS has information about getting help.
*If you're struggling and need to talk, the Samaritans operate a free helpline open 24/7 on 116 123. Alternatively, you can email jo@samaritans.org or visit their site to find your local branch.
