Tara Palmer Tomkinson talks to Jeremy Kyle

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Tara Palmer Tomkinson talks to Jeremy Kyle

Episode two: Tuesday 10 June at 2pm - 3pm ITV

- On recent rehab stint I thought I was having a nervous breakdown

- On drugs: I overdosed and thought my heart was stopping

- On becoming a recluse - only been out three times this year

- Her perfect man: Jeremy Kyle

In a rare interview; former IT girl and socialite, Tara Palmer Tomkinson, opens up to Jeremy Kyle on her life - from her days as the toast of London' to her fall from grace through drug addiction and return to rehab two years ago.

Tara who quit drugs 11 years ago following a 35 day stint in an Arizona Rehab clinic said:

I went back to rehab two years ago but nobody actually knows why I went back. The reasons I went were private, the reasons I went were that I believed that I was having a nervous breakdown because I was so frightened of this British Press, of these Paparazzi who went through my rubbish, who led me to believe that every chimney sound or thunderstorm was a paparazzi attack and I couldn't deal with it and I still can't deal with it.

Most people think that when you relapse that you have to take a substance. I have seen a therapist every single week for the last 9, 10, 11 years of my life, I don't need to relapse on a substance. I can relapse and it just means my brain is overdosing into a way that i just can't cope and you know what, I may not be perfect but parts of me are awesome!

And since her second stint in rehab Tara has become a recluse:

I am a recluse...I get terribly anxious going out, I've only been out [in the evenings] three times this year I haven't worked for two years.

Reflecting on the years spent as a drug addict:

I only ever took cocaine, I've never taken any other drugs

I was so anti drugs and so against it, I just knew that when you saw drugs you said no because I come from a family.. no one even smokes a cigarette in my family

When asked why she then took cocaine for the first time, Tara said:

I couldn't say no to the man I was in love with

On when it started spiralling out of control: The turning point was when I used to run down stairs and pretend I had to re park my car or something and saying to the dealer listen, here's 30 quid' and getting some for myself because I never wanted to be dependent on someone

I was lying to my boyfriend, I had lost my power, I was starting to be devious and deceptive and deceitful.

I would use it to give me confidence that's what it provides that absolute vacuous false nature of everyone thinking that the sun shines out of your ass when it really doesn't

Through tears, Tara relived the darkest moment of cocaine addiction when she thought she was dead:

I remember timing my heart because I knew it was going to stop and I remember my telephone was [a few metres away] ... I remember crawling on my hands and knees to pick up the phone and call and then I woke up in hospital.

I think that was the night I had an overdose

I have never attempted suicide I think it was a cry for help

On her family Tara said:

My family are my salvation, they still are. People think that my family's not dysfunctional, I used to jump over the dining room table on my pony!

I come from a very down to earth family, but we are very eccentric, going home is like a cross between Gosford Park and Harry Potter

My sister was head of the school and I was blackboard wiper and door opener and I think my parents used to dine out on oh yes you know, this is our little black sheep'

With the Royals as family friends; it was a picture of Tara innocently kissing Prince Charles on the ski slopes at Cloisters that changed her life immeasurably - when she was 21 years - old.

I had been on holiday with them all my life and other friends of my family. When I finish skiing with my father I kiss him and say thank you for a great day skiing, when I go skiing with friends of my father I say thank you for a great day skiing - you don't see people with long lenses behind cars

When you become the toast of London overnight for nothing but this everything you're wearing is given to you and the only reason it's given to you is because of who you're with.

When I look at privilege. I come from a family where I washed the car for 10p, I don't come from a family which give me a car for my birthday and a this and that

I don't have any temptation to take drugs anymore drugs absolutely terrify me

And on her love life:

Boyfriend? No I don't want one either, I can't stand the way men eat

I haven't found him so I can't describe him I hope he's like you [Jeremy] because you're so understanding and you're so nice and you really fix people lives and that's why I came on your show.. You are really handsome.

Ends

LINK:	http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/tara-palmer-tomkinson-ta...
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