Reality star Vicky Pattison says she doesn’t need to hit the bottle any more, thanks to her fiancé Ercan Ramadan.
The telly favourite struggles with anxiety and used to turn to alcohol to calm her nerves – but now she reckons love is all she needs.
Vicky, 34, confronts her drink demons and explores her relationship with her alcoholic dad John in a documentary on Channel 4 this week.
But the I’m A Celebrity winner says it was former builder Ercan, 28, who finally helped her handle the booze.
She said: “If we had met 10 years younger, we just wouldn’t have worked at all. I probably would’ve thought he was boring. But he’s exactly what I need. He provides me with a sense of calm.”
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Vicky reveals she drinks because she is “neurotic”, adding: “I’m nervous all the time. I’m full of anxiety. I’m the person whose leg is under the table and it’s shaking, it’s bouncing up and down.
“When I have a drink, that relaxes me. And that was all I’d ever found that calmed me down – until Ercan. He makes it feel like it’s OK to be totally myself.”
Vicky found fame as a party girl in Geordie Shore in 2011 but these days she’s happy to stay home in Essex with Ercan and golden labrador Milo.
She said: “It’s not every night you have to be the last one standing. You can just go home with a bucket of chicken to your dog!”
Ercan, who has appeared on The Only Way Is Essex, proposed in February in Dubai and gave Vicky a diamond ring.
The big day is still a way off – even though she is planning a new arrival.
Vicky said: “I know everyone’s dead excited for our wedding but it’s not happening any time soon. We’re probably going to add to the family in the form of another little puppy.
“I keep sending Ercan videos of two labs and I’ve worn him down. So yeah, we’ll get a puppy. And I’m going to freeze my eggs so there’s going to be kids, but when the time is right.”
Turning 35 this year means a lot to Vicky. She said: “A huge motivation for the documentary is that at 35 my dad started to lose his battle with alcohol.
“I definitely have similarities to my dad. And, don’t get me wrong, loads of similar motivations for why we drink.”
“But I finally feel like my life can look like whatever I want it to look like. I’m in control... and I can have my happily ever after.”
■ Vicky Pattison: Alcohol, Dad And Me is on Channel 4 on Tuesday at 10pm
