Danniella Westbrook (born 5 November 1973) is an English actress and television personality. She is best known for playing Sam Mitchell in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.
Westbrook has also presented various television shows and was a contestant on the ITV show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in 2003. She competed in the fifth series of Dancing on Ice in 2010, with US Pairs Skater Matthew Gonzalez, and finished fourth in the competition. In 2013, Westbrook appeared in the soap opera Hollyoaks as Trudy Ryan. In 2016, she took part in the seventeenth series of the reality show Celebrity Big Brother, in which she reached the final and finished in fifth place.
Westbrook had a much publicised cocaine addiction throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, which caused the complete erosion of her nasal septum. She has stated she began taking drugs at the age of 14 after suffering from child abuse. During her adult addiction to cocaine she was kidnapped and gang-raped by drug dealers. Her father Andy was a cab driver, and later a carpet contractor, while her mother, Sue, was a shop assistant. Her parents were also successful property developers. Westbrook has a younger brother, Jay, and an elder half-brother, Justin, from a previous marriage of her father's. She has stated: "I came from a very loving family". She started modelling at the age of seven and then progressed to acting. She joined the Sylvia Young Theatre School when she was eight, attending Saturday classes. Throughout the early stages of her career, Westbrook attended a local state primary school, but she was bullied because of her television appearances, and after one bully cut off her hair, Westbrook's parents removed her from the school. She was 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-stars, Nicola Stapleton and Samantha Janus, were among her contemporaries.
Career
Early career
Westbrook started off modelling at the age of seven for the supermarket Asda.
EastEnders
At the age of 16, Westbrook was put forward for a much bigger role in EastEnders, Sam Mitchell (the younger sister of Phil and Grant). Her audition was successful, and her first appearance on EastEnders was aired in July 1990. In 1995, the producers at EastEnders asked her back to the soap a second time. However, Westbrook was regularly using cocaine and it began to affect her work.
In 1999, EastEnders producers decided to reintroduce the character of Sam Mitchell. Westbrook returned to screens in September 2009 for two temporary stints, departing once again on 7 January and 21 September 2010. Westbrook again reprised the role of Sam for four episodes airing between 30 June and 8 July 2016. When producers decided to reintroduce the character of Sam in 2022, they opted to bring Kim Medcalf back and not Westbrook.
Other work
A week after her initial exit from EastEnders, in 1993, Westbrook was cast in the part of Dawn in the ITV show Frank Stubbs Promotes, which had a second series in 1994. She also played a part in Dave Stewart's short film directorial debut, Entertaining Mr. Simpson. The film was shown at various film festivals around the world, including Cannes.
In 2003, Westbrook was a contestant in the second series of British ITV reality television show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. Despite being a popular candidate for winning, she found the environment traumatic, saying that she missed her children and wasn't psychologically prepared for the hardship of the jungle life. She quit the show after nine days, before being voted off.
In 2006, Westbrook appeared on a reality TV special of The Weakest Link where she lost in the head-to-head final round. She won £5,025 after Martin Offiah decided to split the winnings, which were donated to charity.
Westbrook was reportedly offered the role of Natalie Buxton in the ITV prison series Bad Girls, but she declined because of her nose rebuilding operation.
Westbrook has featured in several documentaries, including an interview with British journalist Martin Bashir for the Tonight with Trevor McDonald show and Danniella Westbrook: My Nose and Me for Channel 4. In April 2006, Westbrook released an autobiography entitled The Other Side of Nowhere, which gives a depiction of her struggles with cocaine. In 2014, she appeared in the Vigilante Film 'Mob Handed'. She was due to reprise her role as Trudy on Hollyoaks in 2015, however this was cancelled with a representative from Hollyoaks claiming that she "breached her contract".
On 5 January 2016, she entered the Celebrity Big Brother house to take part in the seventeenth series. On 5 February, Westbrook reached the final and finished in fifth place. Since her appearance on Celebrity Big Brother she has appeared on Loose Women and This Morning, followed by a brief return to EastEnders.
Westbrook has not performed for TV or film since mid-2016. In December of that year, she began DJing. In February 2019, Westbrook embarked on a career as a motivational speaker, speaking to international crowds at several shows entitled Yes You Can – Inspired to Achieve at London's Earl's Court.
In October 2022, it was reported that Westbrook would star in a West End of London adult pantomime, titled Sinderfella. She played The Fairy Godmother for one-night only, on 12 December 2022, at The Prince of Wales Pub on Drury Lane.
Personal life
Drug addiction
Westbrook's struggle with cocaine addiction has been widely documented in the British press and media.
In May 2000, Westbrook was photographed at the British Soap Awards, where an image of her missing columella (the skin at the end of the septum which separates the nostrils) was given to a series of tabloid newspapers, unveiling her secret and highlighting her improper drug use.
Reflecting back on the event two years later in 2002, Westbrook 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.'" In 2016, she was sectioned by doctors after a suicide attempt.
Relationships and family
During the 1990s, Westbrook began dating East 17 lead singer Brian Harvey from 1991 to 1995. Westbrook then dated Robert Fernandez. Their son was born 23 November 1996. Fernandez was driving the car, and it has been reported that he was travelling at .
After splitting with Fernandez, Westbrook married van driver Ben Morgan in 1998 after knowing him for eight weeks.
Westbrook married businessman Kevin Jenkins on 27 December 2001, almost four months after the birth of their daughter on 5 September that year. After appearing on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! in 2003, Westbrook said that she no longer wanted to be a 'celebrity', commenting, "I made a pact with Kevin [that] I would do no more TV work that would take me away from home." In 2014, the couple divorced. They had one daughter: Jodie B. Jenkins.
Health
In May 2017, Westbrook discussed her mental health on the panel series Loose Women, saying: "I have borderline personality disorder, I'm bipolar, [paranoid] schizophrenia, I've got lots of different things".
In August 2018, Westbrook underwent treatment for womb cancer after the disease was misdiagnosed. A year later, she was given the all-clear.
In May 2022, she developed sepsis due to an undisclosed cause and was admitted to an Intensive Care Unit. She recovered completely following prompt treatment.
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2016
| Essex Vendetta
| Michelle
|
|-
| Mob Handed
| The Mother
|
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
|-
!scope="col"| Year
!scope="col"| Title
!scope="col"| Role
!scope="col" class="unsortable"| Notes
|-
|-
| 1990–1993, 1995–1996, 1999–2000, 2009–2010, 2016
| EastEnders
| Sam Mitchell
| 325 episodes
|-
| 1992
| Top of the Pops
| Guest Host
| Episode: "Christmas 1992"
|-
| 1993–1994
| Frank Stubbs Promotes
| Dawn Dillon
| Main role
|-
| rowspan= 3 | 2003
| I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!
| rowspan="6"| Herself
| Contestant
|-
| Most Haunted
| 1 episode
|-
| Bo’ Selecta!
| Guest Role (1 Episode)
|-
| 2005–2006
| Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns
| Presenter
|-
| 2006
| The Weakest Link
| Contestant
|-
| 2009
| EastEnders Revealed
| Interviewee
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2010
| EastEnders: E20
| Sam Mitchell
| 2 episodes (series 1-2)
|-
| Dancing on Ice
| Herself
| Contestant (4th place)
|-
| 2013
| Hollyoaks
| Trudy Ryan
| 15 episodes
|-
| 2016
| Celebrity Big Brother
| Herself
| 36 episodes
|-
| 2019
| The Jeremy Kyle Show
| Herself
| Episode: "Pilot"
|}
Music video
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Year
!Song
!Artist
!Role
|-
|1989
|"The Invisible Man"
|Queen
|The Sister
|}
Theatre
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
| 1991
| Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
| Children’s Choir
| London Palladium, London
|-
| 1991–1992
| Robin Hood
| Robin Hood
| Forum Theatre, Hatfield
|-
| 1993–1994
| Peter Pan
| Wendy Darling
| Princess Theatre, Torquay
|-
| 1994–1995
| Babes in the Wood
| The Princess
| Civic Hall, Guildford
|-
| 1997–1998
| Beauty and the Beast
| Princess Belle
| Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury
|-
| 2012–2013
| Dick Whittington
| Fairy Godmother
| York Barbican
|-
| 2013–2014
| Sleeping Beauty
| Wicked Queen
| Kings Theatre, Portsmouth
|-
| 2022
| Sinderfella
| Fairy Godmother
| The Prince of Wales Pub, Drury Lane
|}
See also
- List of Celebrity Big Brother (British TV series) housemates
- List of Dancing on Ice contestants
- List of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (British TV series) contestants