Yahoo Finance Fashion guru Susannah Constantine reveals she is an alcoholic
Susannah Constantine has revealed that she is an alcoholic.
The What Not To Wear star said she has been in recovery for seven years following what she called a “lightbulb moment”.
Opening up on the My Mate Bought A Toaster podcast, she said: “It’s not something I’ve spoken about before really, but it’s important. I’m in recovery, so I’m an alcoholic.
“I’ve been in recovery for nearly seven years now.”
Constantine, 58, said she was actually relieved when she realised that she had a problem and that it was something she could fix.
“It was so liberating,” explained the former Strictly star. “I felt a lot of shame most of the time.
Watch: Susannah Constantine SWEARS live on air
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“But when I realised that, the relief was so immense, because I could change it.”
A post shared by Susannah Constantine (@susannahconstantine) on Oct 31, 2020 at 1:57am PDT
The TV presenter revealed that, prior to that, her husband Sten Bertelsen bore the brunt of it.
“As an addict, often what you would do, certainly what I did, I would put all my own defects and find someone else to attach them to, so I thought my husband was passive aggressive, but actually I was the one who was passive aggressive and that I've realised over time and being in recovery,” she said.
“I was the awful kind of angry passive aggressive and my poor husband was the one who had to live with it.”
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Mother-of-three Constantine found fame alongside fellow fashion guru Trinny Woodall on noughties hit What Not To Wear.
Woodall, 56, has spoken out about her own struggles with substance abuse in the past, previously revealing that she got sober at the age of 26.
She said in 2009: “It’s probably a mixture of growing up and taking things from my upbringing that made me feel insecure and the kind of person I already was when I was born...
“Once you’re in the throes of addiction I don’t think it matters what the substance is.”
Watch: Susannah Constantine opens up about ‘divorce’ from Trinny Woodall
