Pubdate: Mon,  5 Jun 2000
Source: Daily Record and Sunday Mail (UK)
Copyright: 2000 Daily Record and Sunday Mail Ltd.
Contact:  Anderston Quay, Glasgow, Scotland, G3 8DA
Website: http://www.record-mail.co.uk/rm/

DISFIGURED FOR LIFE BY COCAINE 

Soap Beauty'S Looks Are Gone Forever Say Docs

Danniella Westbrook has been scarred for life by her cocaine
addiction, doctors warned yesterday.

The fallen TV sex symbol hopes to have cosmetic surgery on her ravaged
nose, photographed as she partied with former EastEnders colleagues at
the recent British Soap Awards.

But a leading surgeon said she could be permanently disfigured because
the lost tissue between her nostrils, called the septum, is so
difficult to replace.

Iain Swan, an ear, nose and throat expert at Glasgow Royal Infirmary,
said: "If the whole septum is gone there are very few surgeons who
would try to repair it. There's nothing you can do."

Danniella, who has a three-year-old son, once admitted spending pounds
100,000 in a year on cocaine. Heavy users like her often see the
linings of their noses collapse.

In extreme cases, the tissue starts to die. And once dead, it will not
grow back.

Plastic surgeons can help hide the hole but repairs often look crude.
One, Dr Paul Levick, said: "Any reconstruction is likely to be too
bulky and look wrong.

"The patient might have to have a prosthesis - a false implant in the
nose."

Danniella's drug use cost her a place on EastEnders, but friends say
she is now desperate to clean up her act.

She booked into the Priory late last week after reaching "rock
bottom". Her mother Sue begged her to get help.

One pal said: "She knows something has to be done to finally put an
end to it.

"She has battled with cocaine for many years but has never been able
to fully shake herself free of it.

"It has cost her jobs and relationships, which she bitterly regrets.
She will probably need to stay in the clinic for up to six weeks."

Danniella was plucked straight from drama school at 16 to play fresh-
faced Sam Butcher in Albert Square.

Her angelic looks helped make her a household name. And she looked set
for a glittering TV career when she left in 1993 to join Timothy Spall
in the successful Frank Stubbs Promotes.

But Danniella's party- animal lifestyle was getting the better of her.
She had a stormy three-year affair with East 17 singer Brian Harvey,
who collapsed after taking 12 Ecstasy tablets in one night.

Harvey claimed she used her son Kai's drink straw to snort cocaine,
known as "charlie", in McDonald's.

In 1995, Danniella quit her lead role in pantomime after turning up
for only six out of 12 performances. She phoned in sick for one show
and was later seen in a nightclub.

Danniella returned to EastEnders but was quickly fired for constantly
being late.

She admitted being a pounds 300-a-day cocaine addict and checked into
London's Charter Nightingale Clinic.

The 10 days of treatment failed and she would sneak out looking for
drugs.

Danniella then hooked up with drug dealer Robert Fernandez. He is
thought to be Kai's father, although Danniella admitted after the
birth that she was not sure.

She needed facial surgery in 1998 after Fernandez, who was banned from
driving, crashed their car.

Danniella's life took another turn for the worse when she married toy
boy Ben Morgan after meeting him at a petrol station.

They wed after a six-week courtship, selling their marriage photos to
Hello! magazine for pounds 60,000 and moving to Australia.

The marriage ended after 11 months and Danniella admitted she only
went through with it to get the magazine's money.

She said: "I knew I'd get a good deal with Hello!. That was my son's
future.

"I'd had a bad accident, I wasn't working. I had no money at all. I
was absolutely on the floor.

"I was driving an X-reg Volvo, really struggling. I did it to give Kai
a better life."

After the split, Ben claimed she took Kai with her on drug-buying
expeditions and pawned his mother's vacuum cleaner for pounds 60 to
buy cocaine.

Danniella returned to Britain and was reduced to working in a friend's
mobile phone shop before persuading EastEnders to take her back yet
again.

She promised to undergo random drug tests but was axed once more after
eight months.

In April, Danniella insisted she was off drugs.

She said: "I've relapsed a lot - every addict does. But I'm healthy
now.

"I've started to look after myself for the first time in seven or
eight years and I'm very, very happy.

"Then there was Kai, my boy, my little guardian angel.

"He saved my life in a way. Knowing I was pregnant was a chance of a
new lease of life.

"Cocaine ruined my life, and it only takes one more line and you could
kill yourself.

"I turned into a really horrible person. I was a liar. I was
constantly taking drugs."

Now it seems her life has fallen apart again. She discovered in
February that she was pregnant again, only to lose the child.

And her relationship with security firm millionaire Kevin Jenkins
collapsed in the last couple of weeks.

Kevin gave her a Porsche, paid Kai's nursery fees and was ready to
foot the bill for her drug rehab.

They had planned to marry, but he eventually ran out of patience with
Danniella's behaviour. She was given until the end of May to leave his
pounds 300,000 flat at Brighton Marina in Sussex.

Earlier this year, Danniella said: "Being on telly really young and
going clubbing a lot got me into trouble at such an early age.

"Drugs twist a person. Once they get their claws into you, it's tough
to turn back."
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