The brother of EastEnders actress Patsy Palmer has revealed he is checking himself into rehab, two years after being released from prison.
Patsy’s brother Albert Harris, 56, has struggled with heroin addiction since he was 12 and although he has been clean for a year, he wants to kick his need for methadone.
Albert was released from prison in 2022 after serving a five-year sentence for armed robbery in London. He served the same sentence for the same offense in Bristol in 2010.
The siblings haven’t spoken in a year because Patsy, 51, has lived stateside since 2014, but Albert hopes to get better so he can see her and “make our mother proud,” he said. The mirror on Saturday.
Patsy and Albert have “always been close,” he said, but the distance and his beliefs have made seeing each other a challenge.
EastEnders actress Patsy Palmer’s brother has revealed he is checking himself into rehab, two years after being released from prison
“I’m stuck on this medication, but soon I’ll go somewhere and I’ll have that freedom back and I can start a new life,” Albert said.
He has decided that he would like to spend the next part of his life as a volunteer or counselor helping people in the fight against addiction.
Albert, who lives alone in a one-bedroom apartment, believes that change is possible at any age, and that with his experience with addiction he can help others overcome it.
He started using methadone in prison after being given it to ease pain following surgery to remove a tumor on his spine.
But it makes him feel tired and makes him sit on the couch watching TV all day. He said, ‘I am a slave to the chemist and I cannot get a job while I am busy.’
Albert, who attends Narcotics Anonymous several times a week, admitted it can be a challenge when people find out he’s on methadone and hear he’s in jail.
“But it stops my desires and keeps me from going into that dark world, being with those people and committing crimes,” he said.
He has used heroin twice since leaving prison, but has been clean for a year and has promised to keep going to meetings as if he thinks he is better and might relapse.
Albert Harris was released from prison in 2022 after serving a five-year sentence for armed robbery in London
The siblings haven’t spoken in a year because Patsy, 51, has lived stateside since 2014, but Albert hopes to get better so he can see her and “make our mother proud.”
Patsy returned to screens as Bianca earlier this month, having first appeared on screens in 1993 before Patsy quit the soap in 1999.
Albert takes credit for his famous sister’s first acting gig, saying it was he who got her into theater after seeing an advert for Anna Scher Theater in Islington in a newspaper.
And he was along for a while, when both co-starred in Joseph and His Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Albert and Patsy were raised by their seamstress mother after splitting up with their taxi driver father. Their older brother Harry moved out and the couple lived at home with their mother for another four years.
Albert wants to make his sister, who has spent £12,000 to help him kick the habit, proud and see her again once he is clean.
The actress herself has struggled with drug abuse her entire life, just like her brother.
In her autobiography, Patsy revealed that she had her first drink at the age of eight and was smoking cannabis regularly by the age of 11.
Patsy returned to screens as Bianca earlier this month when she was visited by her stepdaughter Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty) in Milton Keynes.
Bianca first appeared on screens in 1993 before Patsy quit the soap in 1999 to spend more time with her family.
She returned to screens in 2002 for a special and made another return in 2009 and 2019, before her upcoming comeback.