Pubdate: Tue, 06 Jun 2000
Source: Independent, The (UK)
Copyright: 2000 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Contact:  1 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5DL
Website: http://www.independent.co.uk/
Author:   Anthony Barnes

COCAINE DESTROYED MY NOSE, ADMITS 'EASTENDERS' STAR

Danniella Westbrook, a former EastEnders star, said yesterday that she 
hopes her disfigurement - partly through the use of cocaine - helps young 
people to think twice about drugs.

The actress has lost the septum of her nose, the flesh and cartilage 
between her nostrils, and is now in a clinic to treat her drug abuse. 
However, the star, who played Sam Mitchell, said a high-speed car crash two 
years ago with her boyfriend at the time, Robert Fernandez, contributed to 
the state of her nose.

The huge gap between Westbrook's nostrils can be seen clearly in disturbing 
newspapers photographs in which she defiantly sticks out her tongue at a 
photographer.

Westbrook, 26, said: "If these photos make young people think, then their 
publication has my support. But remember, I smashed my face when I went 
through a windscreen at 85 miles per hour. I am in rehab now."

She said her family had pleaded with newspapers not to print the 
photographs "until I was stronger, knowing it would hit me at my lowest 
point and could impede my recovery.

"Would these warnings have been less strong in a few weeks' time? Do they 
really care? No, the need to sell papers comes first," she said.

The use of cocaine means the blood vessels in the nose constrict, cutting 
the supply of oxygen, which causes the tissue to die. Many addicts who have 
had similar experiences have needed surgery to rebuild their faces.

Westbrook joined the BBC soap opera EastEnders a decade ago and soon began 
to establish a reputation as a wild child. Her cocaine habit came to be 
well chronicled and she once admitted spending Pounds 100,000 on the drug 
in a year.
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