Danniella Westbrook is "devastated" for her friend Jeremy Kyle following ITV's decision to axe his daytime talk show and insists if it wasn't for his help she "probably wouldn't be alive".
Danniella Westbrook
ITV announced on Wednesday (15.05.19) that production 'The Jeremy Kyle Show' is to end with immediate effect after 14 years on screen following the death of Steve Dymond, who allegedly took his own life a week after taking a lie detector test on the show.
The former 'EastEnders' star appeared on the show earlier this year to discuss her drug addiction and was offered, and accepted, three months rehab treatment following her interview to get her clean and sober.
Danniella only has good things to say about host Jeremy, 53, and his team for what they did for her and has called for people criticising him to remember all the other kind deeds he has done during his tenure on the series to help people.
Appearing on Channel 5 current affairs discussion show 'Jeremy Vine', she said: "I'm devastated because Jeremy has done a lot of good in people's lives. What can I say other than if it wasn't for Jeremy Kyle I probably wouldn't be alive. As much as it's very sad that this guy has taken his own life at a time when he was very vulnerable. At a time when I was very vulnerable Jeremy was the only person who stepped up and put me into rehab ... Lots of broken people watch it and have been fixed because of Jeremy Kyle. I don't think he's broken anybody, I was the most broken person ever and he opened the door when no one other than my son was interested. There's a lot of people like me who need someone like Jeremy to intervene.
"Remember all the things, Christmas specials with the children who have cancer, he's given families holidays and presents, it's not just screaming and shouting at people."
Danniella has been dismayed by the volume of personal attacks on Jeremy this week and hopes that bosses at ITV are looking after him in the wake of the decision to pull his programme permanently.
She said: "I hope they're doing the right thing with their duty of care to Jeremy, and making sure he's OK because if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be sat here. Is he OK, because he should be absolutely devastated?"
And the 45-year-old actress - who has also starred in 'Hollyoaks' and competed on 'Celebrity Big Brother' and 'Dancing On Ice' - is looking forward to what Jeremy does next.
She added: "I won't miss the show, I don't watch the show. Look, times have changed and it would be nice to see Jeremy do something else and see the nation take him to their hearts like they did before."
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