Former East Enders star on her battle with drugs - and her new found faith
‘I just didn’t realise that you can have a relationship with Jesus...’ SOAP STAR Danniella Westbrook became a household name at the age of 16 – and has rarely been out of the spotlight since. Her much publicised battle with drugs is now a thing of the past following her decision to become a Christian. Danniella appeared in commercials for Coca Cola, Asda and Weetabix as a child, later becoming the face of High Street chain Tammy Girl.
A stint in iconic BBC kids drama Grange Hill and an appearance alongside Freddie Mercury in the video for Queen’s Invisible Man followed in her early-to-mid teens. But it was her role as Sam Mitchell in the flagship BBC soap EastEnders in 1990 that projected Danniella into the headlines - often for the wrong reasons. Since leaving Albert Square for the first time in 1993, Daniella has returned three times, most recently in 2009 when she dramatically replaced the actress who took over the role, Kim Medcalf.
After her first EastEnders departure Danniella landed a part in ITV’s Frank Stubbs Promotes with Timothy Spall, but struggled with cocaine addiction throughout the 90s. Her battles with drugs are infamous, and well documented in her first autobiography The Other Side Of Nowhere.
SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT Danniella dug deep to fight her demons and has now been clean 12 years and counting‚ since her final and successful treatment, in Arizona.
Danniella and her husband Kevin became Christians three years ago when they relocated to Los Angeles with their children Kai and Jodie B.
Talking about her decision to follow Jesus, Daniella said: “I always felt that there was something bigger out there than me. At Cocaine Anonymous they always refer to a ‘higher power’ and for me that higher power was God.
“I just didn’t realise that you can have a relationship with Jesus in the way that I understand that you can today. When I was in treatment in Arizona (when I finally got clean) I was pregnant with my daughter and I couldn’t sleep. They had a ‘serenity path,’ in the garden. I went and sat out there at about 3am.
“There’s this thing called the Phoenix Lights, when the sky lights up in different colours. I sat there, looking at the sky, and I just had a conversation with God. This was way before I was a Christian, but I said to him, ‘This is really hard and I cant do this on my own. But if I’m meant for more than to just be working
Danniella Westbrook... talks about her faith in her new book Faith, Hope and Clarity in television and wasting my life doing other stuff, then you need to step in and help me out because I can’t do it on my own.’ I felt that was my first real connection with God.” Some time later she and her husband were persuaded to attend a friend’s evangelical church. “We went and we both just lit up.
“We literally went from church to the airport because we were flying back that day to London. And the whole way home we were like, ‘That was amazing!’ I didn’t know churches like that existed at all, because I’d never been looking for that.
GOD CALLED US “Obviously all over England there are great evangelical churches. I know that now, but back then I didn’t. So I think it was more that God called us, rather than us looking for him.”
They returned to the UK in 2011, settling deep in the Essex countryside. In 2013, Danniella self-published her second autobiography Faith, Hope and Clarity, with author Matt Trollope. In May 2013 Daniella appeared on BBC
One’s Songs of Praise and shared details of the dark period of her life as a drug addict. In the show’s special episode devoted to ‘fame and faith,’ she told host David Grant that her dream was ‘overtaken by the excesses of fame.’
She admitted: “All my life all I wanted to do was be an actress, so I was excited at the prospect of doing what I loved, more so than being famous. Then as time went on the fame overtook doing what I loved.” On the show she went on to say that she spoke to God during her darkest times.
She continued: “Throughout my ‘using’ and my darkest times I did used to speak to God, you know when you’re alone and you’re at your depths. And I think people do that in any case whatever they’re going through in life even if they’re not spiritually aware, at their darkest moments the person they call upon is God.” The soap star told the presenter that after finding faith as a Christian she realised the value of fame. She said: “Everyone was like ‘oh my God, she’s gone from a drug addict to a crazy
Christian,’ and you know what, if you want to label me, label me, that’s cool, but walk a mile in my shoes and then you know, and then judge.”
She continued, “I used to be a big person for judging until I came into the church and that was one thing I had to check myself on constantly was not to judge others.”
BIGGEST ADDICTION “What I’ve realised is fame is the biggest addiction there is. Everybody wants it, whether they say they do or not, most people want it, most people when they’ve got it don’t know what to do with it and then they either want more of it or they want to get rid of it because they don’t like it. “I’ve realised through faith that using your status, whether it be as an actress or whatever that may be, can actually do a lot of good for a lot of causes,” she added. To order a copy of Danniella’s autobiography ‘Faith, Hope and Clarity’ visit her website at www.westbrookdanni. com. It is available as an e-book and also in hardback and paperback.
THE SON
Winter 2013 Page 7