‘I WAKE UP EVERY DAY AND CAN'T BELIEVE I'VE GOT ANOTHER CHANCE'

MICHELLE HEATON AND HUSBAND HUGH HANLEY OPEN UP ABOUT THE DEVASTATING EFFECTS OF HER ADDICTIONS ON THEIR MARRIAGE AND HOW THEY’VE COME OUT THE OTHER SIDE STRONGER

-  KIRSTY HATCHER

On the surface, Michelle Heaton appeared to have it all – a happy marriage, two beautiful children and a successful career. But behind the scenes, things were falling apart.

The Liberty X singer was secretly struggling with a three-year alcohol and drug addiction that left her constantly vomiting, losing her hair and weighing just 7st 13lbs at her lowest. Her skin was also changing colour, and by April this year things had got so bad that she was later told by a doctor if she hadn’t gone to the Priory rehabilitation clinic on the day she did, she would no longer be here.

Not only did her drink and drug addictions push her health to the brink, but her marriage suffered, too. And as we sit down with Michelle, 42, and her husband Hugh Hanley, to hear Hugh’s perspective for the first time, it’s clear there were moments when he didn’t think their relationship would survive.

“I begged him to leave,” says Michelle through tears. “It wasn’t like I wanted to commit suicide but I knew I was going to die and Hugh and the kids would have to go through that.”

But Hugh, who is teetotal, adds, “I knew if I walked away she wouldn’t have made it.”

Michelle previously praised Hugh for being “her rock” when she had a preventative double mastectomy in 2012, followed by a hysterectomy three years later, after discovering she had the faulty BRCA2 gene, which increases the risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Her paternal grandmother and great grandmother both had both cancers in their thirties. The hysterectomy led to her going through an early menopause.