Michelle Heaton has said her doting husband has “forgiven” her battle with alcohol and drug addiction as she gushed about him on her one-year sobriety anniversary.
The 42-year-old Liberty X star jetted off to Mexico with her personal trainer instructor husband, Hugh Hanley, and their two children earlier this month to celebrate her milestone.
And on her return, Michelle has emotionally detailed how her husband helped her get her life back.
Speaking to Closer magazine, Michelle said: “I’m completely honest with Hugh now and he feels like he’s got his wife back.
“He’s forgiven me and we’re best friends again… as well as best friends in the bedroom!” she quipped.
The mum checked into The Priory rehab clinic in May last year after celebrity friends including Katie Price staged an intervention and paid for her to get treatment for her five-year drinking problem.
Michelle's drinking got considerably worse in lockdown 2020, and her issues spiralled out of control.
"I’ve always had an addictive personality – I’ve been obsessive about my weight in the past and taken cocaine, but nothing’s brought me to my knees like booze," admitted Michelle.
“It was so much easier to mask during lockdown because so many people were at home drinking in isolation. I’ve be continually topping up my glass, one vodka bottle after another.”
Four days before she entered rehab facility the Priory, Michelle was scarily close to death.
Hubby Hugh found her having a fit in bed and Michelle said she was told she would have been dead within days had she not got help when she did.
Detailing the moment, he told OK! magazine last year: "Four days before going to the Priory she also had a very bad fit in bed at 2am. She wouldn’t stop shaking and her mouth was drooling. That was scary and it really spooked her."
He went on to add: "Her skin was also changing colour and she hadn’t eaten for days. Things had got so bad there was no way out. She was told in September 2020, with her liver the way it was, she was going to die if she did nothing about it."
Reflecting her breaking point, Michelle told Closer: “I’d given up on my life and I didn’t care about losing my family or friends, it was only about where my next drink was coming from.
“My skin was grey, I was exhausted and my body was completely unrecognisable and bloated.
She spent four weeks in the specialist treatment centre where she finally overcame her addiction to alcohol and cocaine.
Michelle has suffered long term implications of her cocaine and boozes binges and now needs medication for the rest of her life after damaging her pancreas.
The star is now on the road to recovery, and when she was discharged from rehab she posted a picture of herself being reunited with her husband Hugh and two kids.
Michelle admitted to Closer that her worst memories of her addiction were lying to her husband and children Faith, 10, and AJ, eight.
She choked back tears as she explained to the publication how she would be vomiting in the bathroom and then lying to the kids, saying she had a bad headache.
"I feel so ashamed and sad when I think about how I lied to Hugh – I’d wait until he went to bed to start binging on vodka in the middle of the night."
But sober Michelle no longer hides what happened from her children, admitting: “I’ve talked to my kids about what’s happened because I’m really proud of myself for turning my life around.”
