Michelle Heaton joins Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins as she celebrates 17 months of being sober
SHE overcame her demons to get sober following a three-year-long battle with drink and drugs.
And now former Liberty X pop star Michelle Heaton is finally ready to face her next challenge.
I can exclusively reveal the singer is the latest star to sign up to Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, alongside MP Matt Hancock, Towie star James ‘Arg’ Argent and The Wanted singer Siva Kaneswaran.
A source said: “Michelle is ready and raring to go and is out filming with her co-stars now.
“She has gone through so much in her personal life because of her struggle with alcoholism but she wants to prove to herself how far she has come.”
Last May Michelle revealed in an interview with me how she had been days from death after drinking and taking cocaine for three years.
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But in a catch up before I knew she was going on SAS, Michelle said she was ready to get back on the box.
She said: “There was a time when I was being put forward for TV shows but I wasn’t in a fit state to be doing them.
“In hindsight it was probably for the best thing that could have happened for me.
“I would never have been able to do them properly when I was drinking.
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“I am in a really healthy place right now both mentally and physically and I am the happiest and healthiest I’ve ever been.”
Michelle’s fellow recruits may have some competition too – as she is clearly determined to give it her all when she’s faced with US hard-man Rudy Reyes and his co-star Jason Fox.
She added: “This is a really good time for me to show people how far I have come on my journey and where I am right now.”
Michelle, you should be so proud of yourself.
ONLY FOOLS & LES DENNIS
LES Dennis is almost unrecognisable as Grandad in Only Fools And Horses The Musical.
The telly favourite looked at home with Tom Bennett as Del Boy and Ryan Hutton as Rodney by the show’s iconic three-wheeler.
Les, who hosted TV show Family Fortunes for 15 years, has appeared in musicals such as Hairspray and The Addams Family, and will make his show debut on October 3.
Les said: “I can’t wait to join the hugely talented cast and be a part of it. Lovely jubbly.”
Mange tout, Les.
For tickets to the show, at London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket, see onlyfoolsmusical.com.
Chatty period for Jac
FORMER I’m A Celebrity winner Jacqueline Jossa is helping to stop menstruation being a taboo topic with a new documentary, Jac Jossa: Me And Periods on ITVBe on Thursday.
The ex EastEnders actress, said: “I posted on Instagram I was on my period, and how a lot of my followers were shocked that I was openly talking about it.
“My post encouraged lots of conversation between my Instagram friends. We realised there is a serious lack of research, and sometimes limited knowledge about periods.
“So, the documentary was to really start this conversation.”
Here’s hoping . . .
HOBBY IS MORBID STUFF. . .
AUTUMNWATCH host Chris Packham has a new hobby – using taxidermy to stuff roadkill then photographing it in a “fairytale setting”.
Wacky Chris, who discusses his favourite loves in Britain’s Greatest Obsessions tonight on Sky History, said: “Post-mortem photography was very popular in the 1800s, to the 1930s, where people photograph their dead relatives.
“They would set them in a repose, where they look like they were sleeping, call a photographer, who would come and photograph them, then they’d have a print of this on their mantelpiece. So it’s always struck me as a bit morbid.”
I’m sure his family will be relieved to hear his taxidermy only extends to roadkill.
TV won’t pick up the bill
VETERAN star of The Bill Graham Cole has revealed that plans for a spin-off show have been binned before it even got commissioned.
The actor played PC Tony Stamp for 25 years on the ITV cop classic alongside Eric Richard as Sergeant Bob Cryer, and the new show would have starred Graham and fellow Bill veterans Mark Wingett (Jim Carver) and Trudie Goodwin (June Ackland).
There are plans for another, modern version of The Bill, but Graham thinks woke policing means it won’t have the same humour as the original, which was a huge hit in the Eighties and Nineties.
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He said: “Policing is so different. I don’t think it would work, as you don’t get the beat bobbies now.
“And you certainly don’t get, if you talk to the coppers, the humour – because, of course, they daren’t make jokes.”
Royal reason to be cheerful
FANS of The Crown won’t have to wait long.
A trailer teasing the fifth instalment of the Netflix hit – expected to centre on the family in the early Nineties – confirmed it would premiere on November 9.
The streaming giant has also revealed the third series of Emily In Paris will be out on December 21.