I’ve seen both sides of CBB’s Patsy Palmer – from partying with her in Soho House to her screaming at me in furious rage
CELEBRITY Big Brother star Patsy Palmer was on the decks at Soho House in Malibu when I first met her in 2017.
I was a young showbiz journalist covering the Golden Globes and had a night off in Hollywood. Starstruck, I went over to say hello and she pulled me in for a tight hug and kissed me on the head.
Fast forward a year and Patsy – known for her stroppy onscreen character Bianca Jackson in EastEnders – gave me a very different greeting at the National Film Awards in the UK – one I will never forget.
The 52-year-old actress faces the public vote tonight after six Celebrity Big Brother housemates put her up for eviction.
She’s up against Corrie star Jack P. Shepherd and TV presenter Trisha Goddard, who both got four votes.
Dance Moms’ Jojo Siwa is one of the housemates who wants her out, labelling the flame-haired star “finger pointy”.
Jojo said: “Patsy has been an asset to the house. She’s been cooking, she’s been beautiful, she’s been amazing. But I have seen a side of Patsy that has been a bit, I like to call it finger pointy.
She was flaying her arms and giving me a death stare
Halina Watts
“I think team players are what we need in the house, and I think Patsy hasn’t really shown that in the last few days.”
We also saw Patsy reduced to tears after Hollywood actor Mickey Rourke criticised her cooking.
Patsy has previously been open about her struggle with fame, admitting to periods of anxiety.
She’s played Bianca on and off since 1993 with her latest comeback in 2024 for the 40th anniversary live episode.
But in 2014 she famously quit the UK and moved to Los Angeles where she went on a “spiritual journey”, using things like sound therapy and crystals to heal herself.
When I bumped into her at Soho House she looked like she was happier than ever – dancing for hours, a big grin on her face.
She didn’t want to be interviewed but she gave me a hug and sent me on my way.
It was a delightful, unexpected encounter – especially when she is a celebrity I’ve always been intrigued by.
Like her I’ve spent time in LA and fallen in love with the lifestyle.
I’ve also seen how challenging it can be to survive in the showbiz world.
After receiving such a warm embrace, I was expecting the same when she attended the National Film Awards at London’s Portchester House a year later in 2018.
Death stare
She bounded in, her long auburn locks trailing behind her, and turned straight to the TV crew.
She was smiling and chatty so when she’d finished talking on camera I went up to her and politely asked if she’d like to chat.
But she didn’t recognise me and when I said I was a tabloid journalist her face dropped and she turned and walked away.
That’s fair enough, I thought, she’s had a rocky relationship with fame and openly spoken about and how hard its been to live a normal life with people always calling her Bianca.
If only I’d known she had her sights set on going on Celebrity Big Brother I could have told her that’s the ultimate way of airing your dirty underwear – literally – in public.
But I didn’t.
After she left I went over to speak to the cameramen who had just been filming her,
As I told the journalist what a good job he’d done, I could hear someone shouting.
I turned around and it was Patsy yelling furiously at me: “Look she’s trying to get the interview.”
She was flaying her arms and giving me a death stare.
I’m not great at conflict. I get very nervous, to be honest
Patsy Palmer
I was mortified. I felt like her beleaguered onscreen husband who she constantly yelled Rickaaaaay at any given chance.
I thought she was going to storm down the stairs but she just turned round in a huff, disappearing into a throng of Z-listers.
It’s not the first time Patsy has given journalists a hard time.
In 2021 she shut down an interview with Good Morning Britain after they described her as an ex-addict (something she wrote extensively about in her autobiography).
Holding her dog Boo on her lap, Patsy responded to Susanna Reid‘s first question over whether she got more privacy now: “Yeah, I think you do,” before saying: “You know what, actually, I don’t even want to do this interview because I don’t even want to look at what it says at the bottom of that screen.
“So, I’m just going to switch off and do a real Piers Morgan and just say, it’s not OK to have ‘from addict to wellness guru’ on the bottom of the screen.”
Good egg
Last week, before she entered the Big Brother house, Patsy said: “I’m not great at conflict. I get very nervous, to be honest.
“I know you think because I play a character that can be fiery like Bianca that I’m somehow like that too, I’m not, I do actually hate conflict.
“I’d like to think that people have evolved to the point where if there was something bothering them, that maybe you could just have a conversation about it instead of screaming and shouting.
“I don’t need Bianca to protect myself in there though, she won’t come out. I feel like it’s not something I enjoy anymore, arguing.”
Admittedly my awkward encounter with Patsy was seven years ago and, let’s be honest, a lot can change in that time.
Looking back at my correspondence after that fateful night, one journalist – who had witnessed it all – messaged me saying: “Patsy Palmer is a monumental b***h.”
But I disagree. I think she wears her heart on her sleeve and doesn’t understand that you can’t monetise your private life and then not want people to be interested in it.
I still think she’s a good egg because, let’s face it, we’ve all got a Bianca in us that’s desperate to come out.
Let’s just hope for Patsy’s sake it doesn’t rear its terrifying head in front of millions of TV viewers.