THE AWFUL TRUTH ABOUT DANNIELLA'S DRUG DAMAGE

It's a picture that speaks louder than words and for former
EastEnders' star Danniella Westbrook it marks the latest chilling
chapter in a five-year downward spiral of drug abuse and despair.

The 26-year-old actress is seen clowning characteristically for the
camera after a showbusiness awards ceremony last week, oblivious to
her disfigured nose which has been ravaged by years of cocaine abuse
and is collapsing after years of addiction.

Her septum - the gristly membrane which separates the nostrils - has
apparently disappeared, leaving Danniella's pretty face impaired and
her once-pert nose in need of serious surgery.

She suffered face injuries in a car crash two years ago but it is
thought her injuries were mainly to her eye and forehead and, although
the impact could have worsened the damage being done by snorting
cocaine, friends say the condition of her nose is a direct result of
drug abuse.

One pal said: "It was weakened in the car accident but it hasn't
helped that she shoved a couple of kilos of white powder up her nose."

Repeated use of the drug causes constriction of the nasal blood
vessels and, without oxygen, the delicate tissues die. It is a
disfigurement common to cocaine addicts and in one stark image of
Danniella explodes the myth that the drug - increasingly accepted in
showbusiness circles - provides a safe recreation for the rich and
successful.

Danniella once revealed she had spent Pounds 100,000 on it in a year but
the extent of its effect on her has never been fully shown by the
confessional interviews, vows to reform and spells in rehabilitation
clinics.

She is back there now. Danniella checked into London's Priory Clinic
last week. Friends and family are hoping the shock of having her
disfigurement made public will prompt her to do what she has never
previously managed - stay off the drug.

Her plight is rendered all the more poignant by the contrast between
her appearance now and that of the fresh-faced, bright-eyed young
tearaway who burst into the public consciousness 10 years ago when her
character, market trader Sam Mitchell, arrived in Albert Square.

Straight out of stage school and hardly equipped to resist the
temptations which litter the paths of wealthy young stars, she stayed
in EastEnders for three years and earned a reputation for wild living.

By 1995 - two years after she quit EastEnders for the first time - her
behaviour was sufficiently erratic to have an adverse effect on her
career. She was photographed in a nightclub after telling producers
she was too ill to perform in a pantomime. She returned to the soap
but her contract was not renewed after she admitted her cocaine
problem. Her personal life began to suffer too.

Former lovers include Brian Harvey, the former East 17 frontman who
caused outrage by advocating use of the drug Ecstasy.

She had a baby with drug dealer Robert Fernandez who was driving when
she was in the 1998 car crash.

After a short marriage to Ben Morgan, who claimed the actress pawned
his mother's vacuum cleaner to buy cocaine, she appeared to find
happiness with millionaire Kevin Jenkins who provided a shoulder to
cry on when her third EastEnders' stint was terminated in January.
That relationship ended last month, prompting another emotional
collapse and a period in a clinic.Now Danniella could be facing her
last chance to help herself.