Danniella Westbrook Biography

Danniella Westbrook is an English actress and reality television personality. She is best know for playing Samantha Mitchell in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.  Apart from EastEnders she has presented various shows, and was also a contestant on the ITV show I’m a Celebrity et Me Out of Here! in 2003.

After competing in the 2010 series of Dancing on Ice with US Pairs Skater Matthew Gonzalez and finished fourth in the competition. She appeared in Hollyoaks as Trudy Ryan in 2013 .  She took part in the seventeenth series of Celebrity Big Brother where she reached the final and finished in fifth place in 2016.  It was confirmed on 27 February 2016, that Westbrook would return to EastEnders, very briefly with onscreen brother Grant, for the death of their onscreen mother Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor).

Danniella underwent a much publicized cocaine addiction throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.  This  caused the complete erosion of her nasal septum. Danniella sought treatment but later relapsed.  She has released two autobiographies, The Other Side of Nowhere in 2006, and, Faith, Hope and Clarity in 2013.

Danniella Westbrook Age

Danniella was born on 5 November 1973 in Walthamstow, London. She is 45 years old as of 2018.

Danniella Westbrook Family

Danniella was born in Walthamstow, London, but grew up in Loughton, Essex. She is a daughter of Andy  who was a cab driver, and later a carpet contractor and  Sue who was a shop assistant. Danniella’s parents were also successful property developers. She has two brothers, the elder, Justin—her father’s son from a prior marriage and a younger brother Jay.  Danniella has commented “I came from a very loving family – you know, 2.4 children with a Volvo”.

Danniella Westbrook Young

During her childhood she had a keen interest in horse riding, but she has said that she has always had aspirations to be famous.  Danniella began off modelling when she was seven years old and then progressed to acting.

Danniella went to  Sylvia Young Theatre School when she was eight, attending Saturday classes. Throughout the early stages of her career, she went to a local state primary school, but she was bullied because of her television appearances, and after one bully cut off her hair, her parents removed her from the school.

Danniella was later sent to a local private school, until, at the age of 12, her parents allowed her to attend Sylvia Young Theatre School as a full-time student, where Denise Van Outen, Dani Behr and her future EastEnders co-star, Nicola Stapleton, were among her contemporaries.

Danniella Westbrook Husband | Danniella Westbrook Children | Kevin Jenkins Danniella Westbrook

On 27 December 2001 she married millionaire businessman Kevin Jenkins almost four months after the birth of their daughter Jodie B Jenkins on 5 September 2001.  In 2003 after appearing on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!  Danniella admitted that she no longer wanted to be a ‘celebrity’, commenting “I made a pact with Kevin I would do no more TV work that would take me away from home. These days, I live an ordinary life. I work occasionally, but I also do the school run and laundry and prepare my family’s dinner”.

In 2001 Danniella left the UK  to live in Orange County, California, with her husband and two children.

Danniella Westbrook Son | Kai Jenkins Danniella Westbrook

Kai Jenkins  is the son of actress Danniella who on April 10, 2018 was arrested and released on bail over over “malicious communications and witness intimidation” – Jenkins is no stranger to the spotlight.

Kai  is now a budding rapper, and in the past has also described himself as a model and music producer.

He appeared on Loose Women alongside his famous mother in January 2017  during which he accidentally swore live on air.

Around a year before in February 2016 Jenkins boasted about his drug use on Snapchat.

He was arrested with four friends when police found a stash of cannabis after a high-speed midnight car chase in February 2014 .

Danniella’s son who is a musician exclusively opened up to The Sun in December 2016 about what it was like to have a drug addict mum and how he still suffers flashback.

Danniella Westbrook Drugs

Her struggle with cocaine addiction has been widely documented in the British press and media.  She confessed that she first tried the drug at the age of 14, in a nightclub. At age pf 16 when she worn a  role in EastEnders , she  was a regular on the London club scene, and her cocaine usage escalated.

Danniella has commented “I was always in clubs and everyone was doing coke and it was glamorous – except obviously, it wasn’t at all. I was just very young, very stupid and very easily led…I think there should be someone at EastEnders to say to young people when they come in, ‘Look, your life is about to change, you’re going to be invited places, and you’ll be offered drugs.’ Someone who can tell them what sort of people are about, and what sort of papers, and how quickly what you’ve worked for all those years can be gone.”

It is estimated that Danniella has spent over £250,000 on drugs, used 5 g of cocaine every single day throughout her first pregnancy, and has admitted that during her lowest ebb she attempted suicide several times.

Danniella was photographed at the British Soap Awards in May 2000, where an image of her missing septum was given to a series of tabloid newspapers, unveiling her secret and highlighting her excessive drug abuse.  She was checked into rehab.  Six months later, she appeared on the Channel 4 show The Priory with the claim that she was clean and had been free from drugs for months. However, hosts Jamie Theakston and Zoë Ball struggled to get coherent answers from  Danniella who was under the influence of drugs despite her claims of abstinence.

Reflecting back on the event in 2002, Danniella commented “I said I was clean, but it was obvious I wasn’t. I looked about 50, and my voice was shaky. I should never have been allowed on. They wanted to laugh at me, rip me apart. I despise that sort of thing, but it did me the world of good because watching it I realised, ‘I’m so ill.’ When it came to the crunch I thought, ‘Hang on. I don’t want to die.’” She went back to rehab to try to kick her drug habit. She has since undergone reconstructive surgery on her nose to replace her eroded septum.

She revealed in an interview in 2013, that she had been kidnapped and gang raped by drug dealers during the period she was addicted.

Danniella appeared on The Jeremy Kyle Show talking about her continued drug use on 8 February 2019. Kyle organised for her to enter drug rehabilitation. Danniella said “I’m grateful & excited 2 have the chance 2 get the drug free life I had for 14years back”.

Danniella Westbrook Nose | Danniella Westbrook Before And After

Danniella underwent facial reconstruction surgery to repair the deep damage inflicted by osteoporosis, which rotted away her cheekbones and gums.

Danniella Westbrook Photos

Danniella Westbrook Net Worth

Rob Copper once said “It’s really hard to put a value on Daniella’s worth. She began out as a talented actress but quickly became a tabloid sensation that the public have remained fascinated by for the past 28 years.

Danniella Westbrook Eastenders

At the age of 16, she was cast to a bigger role in EastEnders, Sam Mitchell (the younger sister of Phil and Grant). Danniella’s audition was successful and her first appearance on EastEnders was aired in July 1990.  In spite of her featuring in some prominent storylines, she decided to leave the soap in 1993 to take another role. The producers at EastEnders asked her back to the soap a second time in 1995. However, she was regularly using cocaine and it began to affect her work. Due to her off-screen antics and her poor and tardy attendance on set, the producers of EastEnders terminated her contract and she was written out of the soap again in 1996.

Danniella Westbrook Book

The Other Side of Nowhere Paperback – Import, 2001

Danniella Westbrook Tv Shows

Danniella Westbrook Instagram