Danniella Westbrook has revealed she was "broken" after her split with ex East 16 star Brian Harvey.
The couple were together as teens in the early 90s, but remained amicable and even reunited for a 2015 child abuse campaign before appearing to have a huge social media spat in 2021. But when they first split in 1995, after four years together, Danniella was left spiralling.
Speaking on Louis Theroux's new pop music documentary Boybands Forever, the former EastEnders actress revealed that Brian's manager Tom had told her to split up with Brian, now 50. She said she was advised by Tom Watkins that it "wouldn't end well" for her, telling her "he always wins".
But despite his warnings, Danniella and Brain tried to make it work, despite the media scrutiny over their relationship. The couple were often spotted at glitzy events with each other, but behind the scenes, she said their break-up was "inevitable".
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PA)Describing their split on the three-part BBC documentary, Danniella, 51, said: "It went from being happy and being in love to everything being so stressful. I think it was inevitable that we were going to split which subsequently sent me over the edge. I made myself really ill. I took more and more drugs, I'd had enough. I was broken."
East 17 went on to release five studio albus and eighteen singles, before they split n 1997 after Brian was sacked for appearing to condone ecstasy use on a radio interview. Danniella has since reflected on their time together, saying it briefly felt like "the perfect life".
In a 2002 interview with The Observer, Danniella recalled: "It was all fast cars, flashy clothes, glamorous guys, and a lovely apartment. I had a pop star boyfriend, and for a brief moment, it felt like the perfect life. But I was constantly out in clubs, surrounded by people using coke, and I thought it looked glamorous—when, in reality, it was anything but. I was young, naïve, and easily influenced. The original ‘dumb blonde.’”
Years of partying took its toll on their relationship, with the star telling the Mirror later how she lost herself. Danniella said: "About halfway through, I realized I was losing my identity. I’d left my career behind because he wanted me to, and I was no longer ‘Danniella from EastEnders’ – I’d become simply Brian’s girlfriend. We were both fiery personalities, constantly clashing. We got engaged, but I knew I couldn’t marry him.”
Brian and Danniella's once amicable friendship soured in 2021, when she branded him "paranoid" in a furious social media row. It ended with Danniella claiming she had fought to get a restraining order taken out against her ex partner.
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