Michelle Heaton and husband Hugh open up about living with her addiction

1 September 2021, 11:34

During an appearance on Lorraine today, Michelle and Hugh opened up about living with addiction.

Michelle Heaton has given an emotional interview about her battle with addiction.

She and her husband Hugh Hanley spoke to Lorraine appeared on Lorraine this morning, where they spoke candidly about life during the height of her struggles.

Michelle, 42, who entered rehab earlier this year, said: "It was five years really the trauma of all my health issues, it blew up.  I just didn’t know how to stop drinking. Now I worry, I worry about what my addictions had on me physically and also on my family. I had him by my side (husband, Hugh Hanley ) but I pushed him away.

Hugh then said: "The last three or four years have been extremely tough knowing that Michelle was in there but the addictions were ripping her apart. 

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"Sometimes the way she would be towards me and the kids wasn’t nice but I knew that wasn’t Michelle and it wasn’t who she really is and I kind of held on to that.  

"Whenever I brought it up and addressed it, it was just an argument or, 'you don’t understand I’m not an alcoholic'." 

Michelle continued: "With his strength, he’s helped me get through it to where I am now, not a lot of people are that lucky." 

Hugh said: "I was good mentally and physically and I knew I could deal with Michelle and me and I could protect the kids and we could deal with it, but there were days when I questioned my sanity, there were days where I would break down it was just too much to take, was she drinking was she not drinking.  

"We tried getting Michelle into rehab at the end of 2019 and she wouldn’t go because she wasn’t ready. So I think all you can do as a loved one is support from a distance but they have to go on the journey themselves. 

"There were many times where I could have walked away, it would have been easier. 

"There’s no getting away from it, life with an addict is extraordinarily hard. 

"We’ve got a second chance. If I go back six month, probably I didn’t think we would have got that chance because she was so bad and her health was so worrying to see on a daily basis.  

"It's a great outcome for us because it could have really gone the other way. 

"I hoped I’d get my wife back to some degree but really in my heart of hearts I never thought I’d get her back to the person she is."  

An emotional Michelle then told Hugh: "I want to say sorry. Thank you." 

Michelle has bravely spoken about her secret battle with alcohol and cocaine, and previously admitted to drinking up to a bottle of vodka and two bottles of wine a day during her struggle, as reported by the Mirror.