‘I was stoned on the school run’ admits Celebrity Big Brother’s Patsy Palmer in shock confession
EASTENDERS star Patsy Palmer has opened up about her previous unhealthy relationship with alcohol and drugs – which saw her being stoned on the school run.
Actress Patsy, 52, who recently rejoined the BBC soap in honour of its 40th anniversary, is busy making her mark on this year’s Celebrity Big Brother.
The now clean-living star has admitted that she was once so addicted to cannabis that she chain-smoked skunk right before her children’s school pick-up.
The mum-of-four, who plays Bianca Jackson in EastEnders, wrote in All Of Me, Life, Love And Addiction: “My hands were shaking as I looked at the Rizla papers on the side.
Patsy, who has now reinvented herself as a wellness guru in California, wrote in her 2007 autobiography how she hit an all-time low after skipping an important meeting to stay at home watching This Morning on TV while smoking dope and eating doughnuts.
“The night before, I’d put away the puff — my skunk weed, otherwise known as super-strong marijuana — on top of a cupboard, hoping that when I woke up in the morning I’d have forgotten about it.”
Patsy says she felt “edgy” and “paranoid” and desperately tried to distract herself.
She wrote: “I took the vacuum cleaner out of the cupboard.
“I loathe housework… it was the most normal thing I could think of.
“A minute later I was on the couch, watching This Morning and smoking a big, fat joint.
“I’d promised myself never to smoke in the house because of the kids.
“I didn’t want any traces lingering for them. I wanted to be extra careful because my little girl had chest problems.
“By midday I was stoned. But it was OK because I could eat something and be fine by 3.30pm, when I needed to leave for the school run.
“Three hours later I had finished my third joint and second jam doughnut.
“I stood in the middle of the room and thought, ‘Is this what my life has come to?’
“I was feeling physically ill, horrible and dirty.
“A voice was like, ‘You are a responsible parent, you are a grown woman.
“Sort this out, now. What are you doing, you idiot?”
She wrote that her partying got out of control, similar to her EastEnders co-star Danniella Westbrook whose cocaine habit destroyed part of her nose.
Patsy would binge on drugs then ‘shower and change’ before work.
Speaking in 2010 about her early days in EastEnders and bingeing on drink, as well as taking cocaine and ecstasy, she said: “Quite often, I’d party all night and go into work the next morning, just grabbing sleep on the set whenever I could. I don’t know how I survived.”
The Celebrity Big Brother star continued: “You can get dressed up and look great but inside you might be dying. I felt like that.
“In this business you can get away with murder. You try to make yourself look nice from the outside, but if you’re not feeling good inside, what’s the point?”
The EastEnders legend, who started drinking at just eight-years-old, has her addiction well under control.
Before she entered the CBB house, the actress said: “Occasionally I’ll have a glass of wine, it doesn’t bother me, with food.
“I don’t do anything rigid anymore. I went through many years of following certain programs, which I think are great.
“I’m not saying anyone should do this because I think all of the programs for people are amazing, but I haven’t followed anything for as long, I’ve just found my own way in life and it should be about that.”
Patsy now lives in Los Angeles with her second husband Richard Merkell and their children which she says is vital to her well-being, as she couldn’t live anyway where ‘it gets dark at 3pm again’.
The iconic star played Albert Square’s Bianca from 1993 to 1999 and from 2008 to 2014, before returning for a short stint again in 2019 – and for the recent 40th anniversary.