Patsy Palmer drops Bombshell about being stoned during School Run
Patsy Palmer has opened up about the darkest moments of her past, admitting she was once so hooked on cannabis that she’d chain-smoke skunk before picking up her kids from school. The EastEnders legend, now 52 and back on Celebrity Big Brother, shared her story in her book All Of Me: Life, Love And Addiction, revealing just how far things spiralled before she got clean.
At the time, Patsy was a mum-of-four and working as Bianca Jackson in EastEnders, but behind the scenes, she was struggling. In a brutally honest passage, she recalled standing in her living room mid-afternoon, stoned after three joints and two jam doughnuts, thinking: “Is this what my life has come to?” She added: “I was feeling physically ill, horrible and dirty… What are you doing, you idiot?”, reported the Sun.
She wrote about once skipping an important meeting just to stay home smoking dope and watching This Morning, even dragging out the hoover just to feel like she was doing something normal—though that plan didn’t last long. Despite promising herself not to smoke in the house because of her kids, especially as one had chest issues, she admitted by midday she’d often be high and hoping to feel fine by the 3.30 pm school run.
It wasn’t just weed either. Patsy later revealed she partied through the night on cocaine and ecstasy, often turning up to set after barely any sleep, grabbing naps wherever she could in between filming scenes. Looking back, she said, “I don’t know how I survived.”
Even though she looked the part on the outside, inside, she was falling apart. “You can get dressed up and look great but inside you might be dying. I felt like that,” she said. “You try to make yourself look nice from the outside, but if you’re not feeling good inside, what’s the point?”
Thankfully, those days are behind her. Patsy now lives in Los Angeles with her second husband, Richard Merkell, and their children, far away from the chaos of her past. She says the lifestyle there has been key to her well-being—“I couldn’t live anywhere it gets dark at 3 pm again.”
Although she occasionally enjoys a glass of wine with food, she no longer follows strict programmes. “I’ve just found my own way in life,” she said. And for fans, it’s inspiring to see her back in the spotlight, grounded and in control.
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