'I REMEMBER SAYING MY PRAYERS'
TARA Palmer-Tomkinson revealed how she almost died after taking a cocaine overdose in an emotional interview.
The star, who has died aged 45, opened up about her £35,000 rehab visit and how she became a recluse after the terrifying near-death experience.
10
10
10
10
10
The personality has been battling a brain tumour since last January, and passed away at her London home earlier today.
In the harrowing interview three years ago, Tara - known affectionately as TPT - broke down as she opened up about her drug abuse.
She said: "I remember timing my heart because I knew it was going to stop.
"I remember my telephone was there and I remember crawling on my hands and knees to pick up the phone and call, and then I woke up in hospital.
"I remember saying my prayers. I knew my heart was stopping."
The troubled socialite, who was a close family friend of Prince Charles, said her addiction caused her to develop "psychosis" and was "devious and deceptive and deceitful."
Her family sent her to a £35,000 rehab facility in Arizona, and while Tara admits she "got drunk" on the plane she said the experience had taught her humility.
10
10
10
The star - who appeared in the first series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here back in 2002 - revealed she was fighting a brain tumour last year after going for a set of blood tests.
Doctors discovered a growth in her pituitary gland which was not malignant but was affecting the production of hormone prolactin.
A police spokesman said: “Police were called by London Ambulance Service at approximately 1.4opm on Wednesday, 8 February to an address in Bramham Gardens, SW5.
“A woman, aged in her 40s, was pronounced dead at the scene. Next of kin have been informed.
“The death is being treated as unexplained. At this early stage, police are not treating the death as suspicious."
RELATED STORIES
The star revealed in November: "I went to the doctors to talk about my latest blood test results when I got back from skiing in January.
"I said, 'What does this mean? Can you translate it?' And the doctor said, 'As I suspected, you have a brain tumour.'"
Doctors then often use an MRI scan to detect the size and position of the tumour, before treating it with drugs to shrink it.
Tara's blood tests also revealed that she was suffering from a rare auto-immune condition, related to her anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA-related), in which abnormal antibodies attack the body’s cells and tissues.
But despite her illness, the former party girl said she had a "better perspective on life" after the diagnosis.
She said: “I got terribly frightened. I started thinking, ‘I’m going to die, I’m going to die. I’ve only got a couple of weeks to live.’ Stuff like that.”
“‘I’ve gone completely the other way. I’m a very quiet person now, and I like being that person. I have a better perspective on life.”
10
10
Following the news of her death, The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall have said they are "deeply saddened and our thoughts are so much with the family."
Born in Hampshire to Olympic skier Charles and Patricia Palmer-Tomkinson, Tara was a regular face on the London party scene throughout the nineties and noughties.
She first found fame after penning details of her extravagant party girl lifestyle in The Sunday Times.
But she was treated for her £400-a-day cocaine habit in 1999.
After years of substance abuse, in 2006 her septum nasi collapsed, forcing her to undergo £6000 worth of cosmetic surgery to get it fixed.
She also had a number of high-profile relationships with fellow stars including Blue's Duncan James and Duran Duran's Nick Rhodes.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368
Topics