Trinny Woodall reveals rehab left her suffering panic attacks and questioning her own identity
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Trinny Woodall has spoken candidly about her stint in rehab, revealing she suffered panic attacks because she “didn’t know who she was” when she was sober.
Trinny London’s owner, now 58, was 26 when she went to rehab to deal with her substance abuse – but the consequences weren’t all positive
Speaking to Amanda Wakeley about her Style DNA podcast star, who is now 32 years sober, admitted she entered treatment after doing “too much of everything.”
‘I didn’t know who I was’: Trinny Woodall has spoken candidly about her stint in rehab, revealing she had panic attacks because she ‘didn’t know who she was’ when she was sober
Trinny previously admitted that she started drinking and taking drugs at 16 after moving from a boarding school to a day school in London.
She said she was a shy teenager who was insecure about her appearance because she suffered from “chronic acne.”
Telling the podcast: “I then went to rehab when I was 26 because I just did too much of everything. And when you go to rehab, you start a little bit over again’.
“So all the kind of stuff you have that gives you the layers of the onion, it peels back.”
Big Break: Trinny (left) rose to fame as a no-nonsense fashion guru alongside her friend Susannah Constantine (right) on What Not To Wear from 2001-2008
She continued: ‘And I remember coming back to London, I was 26, and I remember walking down King’s Road and having a panic attack. I just didn’t know who I was. Because everything was taken away.”
The podcast reveals the Style DNA of several celebrities and Trinny, who now runs a multi-million pound makeup empire, admitted that her self-confidence was, in fact, “impostor syndrome.”
In the candid conversation, she said, “So I had things that made me feel insecure. I had siblings that I loved and beyond and I felt — you know, at the kitchen table at night — like I couldn’t contribute. I felt that. I’m the youngest – it’s six.”
Truth: The podcast reveals the Style DNA of several celebrities and Trinny, who now runs a multi-million pound makeup empire, admitted that her confidence was basically ‘imposter syndrome’
“And then, when I was 13, I got really bad acne, so I felt really unattractive as a person. And I had really bad acne that when I went on a date – and I had it until I was 30 – I would decide which restaurant to go to and if there was overhead lighting or not. I was so self-conscious’.
It comes after her boyfriend Susannah recalled the “humiliating” experience that forced her to seek her own help from her family regarding her alcohol use.
During an appearance on Lorraine last month, the 60-year-old fashion guru shared that she hit rock bottom when she blacked out and got herself wet during a family vacation in 2013.
She drank a bottle and a half of wine every night and admitted alcohol had “control” over her, while trying to hide her drinking from husband Sten Bertelsen and their children Cece, 18, Esme, 21, and Joe, 23.
She explained: ‘Anyone who suffers from alcoholism will identify with this, it had grown so much that I had no control over alcohol, it had control over me.’
She recalled the moment she decided to seek help and continued: ‘We were in Cornwall and I didn’t drink much more than anyone else, but I think if you drink consistently and daily, your body becomes like a saturated sponge and it doesn’t cost much to tip you over the edge.
Low: It comes after her boyfriend Susannah recalled the ‘humiliating’ experience that forced her to seek her own help from her family regarding her drinking
“So I blacked out, I fell, I broke two transverse spines in my back and I got myself wet, and you can’t get more humiliating than that. And my children witnessed that and my husband and brother-in-law took me to bed.’
She continued, “I don’t know how I had the courage, but the next day I got everyone around the table and I said, ‘Look, I need help. I lied to you, I keep saying I don’t drink, I drink a lot more than you know and I have to do something about it’.
‘And then I asked them all, ‘How do you feel about this?’ And they all told me and I knew that was the point where I had to stop and regain my family’s trust for lying.”