Danniella Westbrook stepped out at a charity football match in east London this week — floral dress, hair up, large sunglasses — weeks after her most recent facial reconstruction surgery. She looked calm. She looked present. She looked like someone who has been through a great deal and is still going anyway.
The former EastEnders star, 52, is in the middle of an 18-month surgical journey to repair damage caused by a collapsed septum following years of cocaine use. She has now had six procedures. She has six more to go.
The surgeries are extensive. Earlier this year she flew to Dubai for a full face, neck and brow lift alongside lip and nose reconstruction. Her most recent procedure addressed her hare lip which had been pulling in the wrong direction. Coming up is a surgery to implant a metal cheekbone — because the bone on one side of her face has deteriorated so significantly from osteoporosis that there is nothing left to build on.
She has been honest about all of it in a way that takes courage. She appeared on television recently and said she hates looking in the mirror. That every two and a half to three months she is back in surgery. That the trolling she receives online has included people telling her to end her life — alongside the many others who have shown her genuine support.
Danniella found fame at 16 on EastEnders. She has spoken openly about how her addiction began — the clubs, the glamour that turned out not to be glamour at all, the years and the money and the health that cocaine took from her.
She estimates she spent around £250,000 on the drug. She is now spending what is left rebuilding what it took.
Six down. Six to go.