health battle
Danniella Westbrook ‘rushed to hospital with breathing issues and drops out of film comeback role’
The dash has meant the star has been forced to quit her big acting comeback in upcoming film, Tales From The Trap.
Insiders told the publication how Danniella’s sudden illness was bad enough that she had been forced to pull out of filming altogether.
A source close to the star told the publication: “Danniella was rushed into hospital on Friday with breath difficulties which meant she had to pull out of filming Tales From The Trap.
“She was due to make her movie comeback as a gangster granny selling AK47s to the gangsters.
More on Danniella
FACE FACTS
Danniella Westbrook’s changing £500K face… from ‘Enders teen to ‘rotting jaw’
NEW FACE
Danniella Westbrook looks completely different after life changing nose surgery
“It’s really disappointing as I am sure everyone was looking forward to seeing her play that part.”
Danniella has already been replaced in the movie by The Bill and Slow Horses actress Kim Tiddy who will now be playing her part.
The movie was supposed to be Danniella’s acting comeback, starring alongside Love Island star Olivia Hawkins, with the star having failed to appear in any major screen productions since mid-2016.
She last appeared in the role that brought her to fame as Sam Mitchell in EastEnders when she made a brief return in June and July of that year as part of a storyline for the funeral of her on-screen mother, Peggy Mitchell.
Most read in Showbiz
NO ACHY BREAKY HEART
Bosses allowed Danniella to return to the role despite actress Kim Medcalf having already taken over from the star in the early 2010s due to her ongoing drugs issues which had caused Danniella to leave the soap three times prior.
Despite her 2016 stint, when Sam was re-introduced once again years later, bosses opted to bring Kim back.
Danniella first played Sam in 1990 before being written out three years later.
She eventually returned in 1995 for a year and then completed a further year between 1999 and 2000.
Despite having already been axed three times due to troubles in her personal life, she returned once more for another year-long stint across 2009 and 2010 before making her final appearances in 2016.
Danniella has struggled with cocaine addiction throughout her life and underwent a life-changing operation earlier this year in order to save her nose after years of drug abuse permanently damaged her nasal septum.
The surgery saw doctors removing cartilage from her rib to help perform a bone graft across the bridge of her nose.
Back in June, Danniella revealed that she was undergoing the surgery.
She said at the time: “Big day for me heading down for a very long surgery right now to rebuild my face.
“Then I can get back to work.”
Danniella got hooked on drugs aged 14 after shooting to fame as Sam Mitchell in the BBC One soap.
She said she wasted £250,000 on cocaine, was so badly addicted to the drug that she took five grams a day while pregnant with her son Kai.
Danniella abused the drug so badly that her septum – the cartilage that separates the two nostrils – fell out.
In 2023, Danniella opened up about her stint on Celebrity Big Brother in 2017 and said she was struggling with her addiction then.
She said: “When I went on Big Brother my kids were thinking ‘oh my God how’s she going to be?’
“Because I went on there doing 11 grams of gear [cocaine] a day.”
She got clean before relapsing again a year later and said: “I’m an addict and the wheels fell off. I was dabbing cocaine in my mouth and rubbing it around my gums to numb the pain.
“People think I was hoovering cocaine up my nose again but I wasn’t. I was wiping it around my gums.”
In 2021, she faced another relapse but got clean again.
