Annabel’s story - My life on cocaine
‘My affair with drugs started when I was a 17 year-old drama student. I had a reputation as a real party girl, who was up for anything. My boyfriend Steve was a DJ and drugs were always readily available on the music scene. When you're young, you just think you're invincible.
I carried on partying throughout my early twenties, even when Steve and I had our son, Oliver. But then two years ago, I walked out on them both, I just couldn't cope with the responsibility of being a parent and I lost custody of Oliver. That was the start of my depression but at the time, I didn't realise it.
‘Most of my friends had now started to settle down but I was living my twenties in reverse. I had a job in the City with loads of disposable cash and I started hanging out with similar people. I couldn't handle going home alone, so I'd just stay out as late as possible.
‘My weekend would start on Thursday afternoon and between then and Sunday night, I'd use 4-6g of coke. I was also drinking a lot, sleeping around and lost loads of weight. After a while, I started using coke at work too. I'd created this image of myself as the one who could always be relied upon to push the boundaries. People used to say I should publish a book of my “Annabel stories” but the truth was, I was terrified of being on my own and I didn't want to have any more Annabel stories.'
