Danniella Westbrook launches shock new career following cancer diagnosis

Danniella played the character of Samantha Mitchell in Eastenders at a mere 16 years old.

During the early 1990s, Danniella dated pop singer Brian Harvey, but the couple split in 1995.

In 1998, she attended the premiere of Anastasia with her first son Kai, who she had with her then-boyfriend Robert Fernandez in 1996.

In 2000, Danniella returned to filming EastEnders, but the full extent of her drug problem came to light. As a result of her coke addiction, her nasal septum eroded and this infamous picture hit newspapers everywhere. She was checked into rehab the same year.

Danni, son Kai and new husband Kevin Jenkins - who Danni married in 2001. Danniella gave birth to Jody four months before marrying Kevin Jenkins.

In 2002, while Westbrook strutted her stuff in denim on the red carpet she was replaced as Sam Mitchell by Kim Medcalf in EastEnders.

A healthy looking Danniella was papped with her husband Kevin Jenkins in 2003.

In 2003, she took part in I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! However, she withdrew from the show after breaking down because she missed her children and husband.

Danni bounced back and attended the film premiere for Scary Movie 3 in 2004.

In 2004 she was snapped with both of her children, looking happy.

And in 2005 she showed the paps that she's still got it - the pose, that is.

In 2006, she released her autobiography which was an inspiring and powerful story.

In 2009, Eastenders reintroduced the character of Sam Mitchell and announced that Danni would be reprising the role.

Danniella competed in the fifth series of Dancing on Ice in 2010, finishing in fourth place with professional skating partner Matthew Gonzalez.

Later that year, she left the UK with her husband Kevin and two children Kai and Jody to live in California. She returned to the UK a year later in 2011, and became a born again Christian.

In 2012 and 2013 Danni appeared in Hollyoaks playing Trudy Ryan.

In 2014, she split from her hubby Kevin Jenkins however here she is looking very happy with her son Kai.

Danniella appeared on ITV's Loose Women in 2015, and opened up about her drug addiction and relapse. Talk about brave.

A post-gym selfie: in 2015 we saw a fresh-faced Danniella get into fitness and training.

In February 2016, she took part in Celebrity Big Brother, where she made it to the final and finished in fifth place - the same year Geordie Shore's Scotty T won the show.

The soap star turned CBB star is actually pals with Christopher Malone.The pair were friends for years however they had a falling out and Danniella opened up about their friendship before the both went on Celebrity Big Brother. She told The Sun: "Chris Maloney, we used to be very good friends.""I had a lot of issues with the guy I used to go out with after my marriage split up. The whole time through this Chris was sending him all the messages I was sending to him and giving him my phone number. I had a breakdown."However in the CBB house they kissed and made up and even got cosmetic surgery together in Poland.

In April 2016, Westbrook's hair stylist gave her the chop as she once again reprised her role as Sam Mitchell in Eastenders for four episodes which aired in July.

In 2016, she posted a picture of her with her new 23-year-old boyfriend, George Arnold.

At the end of 2016, Danniella made a courageous appearance on ITV'S This Morning, admitting to her drug overdose and how she suffered from depression following her relapses.

Danni made another appearance on Loose Women in 2017.

Just look at how much her son has grown!

In 2017, Danniella got engaged to new partner Alan Thompson. She fell pregnant in August with her third child, but tragically suffered from a miscarriage.

She was spotted leaving Boxing with the Stars in London in 2017.

After embarking on her DJing career in late 2016, Daniella posed with Brandon Block in 2017.

At the end of 2017, Daniella wished her fans a Happy New Year via Snapchat.

In 2018, Danniella confessed that her face is "rotting away" following botched plastic surgery and years of drug use. The TV star told The Mirror: "Obviously I'm going to age a lot faster anyway because of the drugs but I didn't need this as well."Some days I wake up and I'm so swollen and other days it can look really sunken..."She continued: "They [the doctors] need to take a piece of bone out of my skull and put a plate into my face, but they've got nothing to stick the plate on at the minute because the bones not strong enough. "They can start to rebuild it but I'll never look the same and it could make me look not very nice, even worse than I look now."Before she has corrective surgery, she's reportedly "drinking 12 pints of milk a day" to get her bones stronger.However, the EastEnders star then took to Twitter and slammed reports that her nose was rotting away, instead she said she suffered from osteoporosis.On the social media site, she wrote: "I said it's [nose] not rotting away & it's osteoporosis not drug use! I ACTUALLY GIVE UP!!! Photographer & make up artist witnessed whole interview. Y lie y screw me over!"

In February 2019, Danni appeared on the Jeremy Kyle Show and admitted that cocaine was still very much part of her life. Jezza and the show offered to send her on a 12-week rehab course and the troubled star agreed to attend.