Children’s telly host: I was a 7 grams-a-night cocaine addict
Shocking drugs secret of kids' star
SHE is the kids’ TV presenter loved by millions — but Sarah-Jane Honeywell today admits she was a drug addict who snorted 20 lines of cocaine a night.
The bubbly 39-year-old former star of CBeebies hid her dark secret from her BBC bosses for years.
She was fearful if news of her terrifying addiction got out, she would be pulled from TV screens.
But speaking exclusively to The Sun on Sunday, Sarah — host of popular children’s shows Tikkabilla, Mighty Mites and Higgledy House — confesses: “I was a seven grams-a-night coke addict.
“My addiction was so bad that cocaine started to control my life.”
Sarah also tells how she:
- BURIED cocaine in her garden in a desperate bid to stop herself taking the drug
- TRIED opium and ecstasy during drug binges
- REGULARLY smoked cannabis and is still hooked on the anti-depressant Prozac. Sarah worked for CBeebies between 2002 and 2008 but episodes of many of her programmes are regularly broadcast on the channel today.
She was a stage actress when she was gripped by coke addiction — but was still on Prozac during her time as a pre-school TV host.
And her revelations are in stark contrast to her happy-go-lucky persona on the channel, where she was the regular sidekick to star male presenter Justin Fletcher.
However, the presenter — who is just 4ft 11in — has spoken out because she believes simply telling children not to take drugs is not enough.
In her famously high-pitched voice, she argues: “We tell young people all the time, ‘Don’t do drugs, don’t do drugs’. But we don’t tell them why.
“Up until falling off the wagon at 24, I was a total good girl.
“I didn’t even drink. I had an ideal family who brought me up so well — I’ve never even seen my parents’ drunk.
“When I first entered the entertainment industry I was shocked by the number of people taking drugs. But then I saw some of those people start to do well in their careers and I questioned whether I was making the right decision.
“I came to a point in my life where I decided that I wasn’t going to make judgments about anything I hadn’t tried myself.”
Sarah was encouraged to take the drug by a friend.
She says: “When I did my first line of cocaine, it felt like nothing. It was less mind-altering than alcohol. I started to think, ‘I don’t get what the big deal is’. But what I didn’t realise is that cocaine is a slow burner.
“That’s what is dangerous and what we forget to tell people. Over the first year of me doing it, it got worse and worse. To begin with I could do one or
two lines.
“But by the end of that year I was doing seven grams a night. That’s £300 worth and 20 lines. No matter how much cocaine was there, I had to finish it.
“I would split my drug supply in two and bury half of it in the garden. But by 3am I’d be out there digging up the supply and snorting it in that state.”
Her addiction got so bad she started to buy a stronger form of the drug.
She recalls: “It was uncut cocaine — that’s pure off the rock.
“It was the end of me — the drug got hold of me. It’s a bit like smoking crack. For Christmas my friend and I spent thousands of pounds to buy each
other a kilogram of uncut cocaine. It only lasted us 20 days.
“I often did pills — ecstasy — and I smoked cannabis.
“I tried opium as well. One night I felt like I was having a severe asthma attack because I’d taken too many drugs.
“It wasn’t any fun but I didn’t know how to stop.
“It’s really not cool snorting something up your nose that’s probably been shipped to the UK in the bowel of a dog.
“Cocaine psychosis had started to come into my life. I became paranoid because I thought people were following me. I was very thin. My friend and I realised one of us was going to die or go crazy.”
At the time, Sarah — now an aspiring film actress — was starring with EastEnder Shane Richie in a Peter Pan panto.
But she secretly began to attend Narcotics Anonymous — and started to battle her addiction.
She says: “It was surreal but I realised I wasn’t on my own. I had to stop everything — even alcohol.
“I know now that if I got drunk in a nightclub and someone offered me cocaine I don’t think I’d be able to say no.
“I’m worried it’s always going to be there. I’m obviously still addicted to Prozac.”
Sarah hid her drug problem when she joined the BBC, mindful that fellow kids’ TV presenter Richard Bacon was dumped as Blue Peter host after being caught taking drugs.
She did not even tell her bosses she was addicted to anti-depressants.
The former star says: “I knew if I said to them I was proud for being clean and sober, they would have kicked me off the next series.
“But the entire time I was presenting on CBeebies I was hooked on Prozac.”
She is matter-of-fact about the likelihood of CBeebies chiefs now pulling the plug on her repeats.
But she says: “If they do stop showing my episodes then they’re sending the message that anyone who has done anything wrong in their life is a bad person.”
However, she believes all kids’ TV needs to change to present a more realistic view of the world — and wants to warn kids off drugs herself.
She explains: “When we’re children, we’re presented with this perfect world where nobody messes up.
“On CBeebies, the world is perfect. But that simply isn’t the case.
“When I found myself in a bad world, I didn’t know how to deal with it because I grew up in a perfect world.
“Some children who started watching me when they were five are now 15. I think it’s really important for them to know that people do drugs and drugs are out there, even though they are illegal.
“I want to tell kids, ‘Don’t do drugs, not because they are illegal — but because they will destroy part of you’.”
Sarah also hopes her honesty will endear her to older CBeebies viewers. She laughs: “I think a lot of mums hated me because they thought I was perfect and happy all the time.
“Talking about this might make them realise I’m a normal person who has made a mountain of mistakes."
£50,000 drug debt
SARAH-JANE revealed: “I am still £50,000 in debt from the drugs. I was spending £1,000 a week on drugs for two years straight.
“I bought a flat before I started to take drugs. That’s now had to be remortgaged. But there’s no way I’m going to be declared bankrupt – it’s the
easy way out.”
The news will shock CBeebies chiefs, who were angered in 2011 she posed near-naked in Trafalgar Square to promote World Vegan Day.
She says: “I wanted to show more of my real personality.”