03 July 2023 , 11:39
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Danniella Westbrook has admitted to having the 'worst taste in men'. But after refusing to give up on love, it seems the EastEnders actress has finally found her soulmate.
The 49-year-old has had a string of failed relationships over the years, and is now set to wed her jailed fiancé following six years of on-off romance.
Danniella headed out wedding dress shopping this week to try on gowns for her special day - which worked as a distraction from her 'nightmare' plastic surgery in Turkey.
As the mum-of-two prepares to walk down the aisle to convict David, we take a look back at the rollercoaster romances that led her to find love.
Danniella played the Mitchell brothers' younger sister Samantha in EastEnders (BBC)
The mum-of-two is set to walk down the aisle to her convict fiancé this year (Instagram)Brian Harvey
After landing the part of Sam Mitchell on EastEnders, Danniella was a girl in demand - and was soon charmed by East 17's Brian Harvey.
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Together, they made something of a power couple between 1991 and 1995, and enjoyed a wild romance which regularly played-out at showbiz parties.
Speaking to The Observer in 2002, she said: "It was all fast cars, flash clothes, flash blokes, lovely flat - I had a popstar boyfriend and it was all good for a short while.
Brian Harvey (top middle) was part of English pop group East 17 in 1995 (Hulton Archive)
Danniella was publicly very upset with her ex-boyfriend Brian in 2021 (daniellawestbrook/Instagram)"But I was always in clubs and everyone was doing coke and it was glamorous - except obviously, it wasn't at all. I was just very young, very stupid and very easily led. The original dumb blonde."
Eventually, after four years of late nights, the relationship collapsed.
She previously told The Mirror: "It was only half-way through that I thought: 'What am I doing?' I got to the point where I wasn't my own person any more. I gave up work because he wanted me to. I don't mean it to sound flash, but I'd become Danniella, Brian's girlfriend. Not Danniella from EastEnders.
"Him and me were like fire and fire. On and off, on and off. We were together three years. Got engaged. But I couldn't marry him."
Then 20 years later, the pair bizarrely reunited to deliver a petition on child abuse to parliament.
But in 2021, the pair had a public spat when Brian took to YouTube to attack his ex-girlfriend in a brutal row about drugs.
Motherhood
For a while, Danniella found stability with car dealer Robert Fernandez.
Danniella and boyfriend Robert had a son together called Kai in 1996 (Daily Mirror)
Kai has spoken out about forgiving his mum's Class A drug use since (S Meddle/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)Their son, Kai, was born in November 1996, when she was 23 years old, and Danniella moved into the South London council house Robert shared with his mum.
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Of her son, recovering drug addict Danniella once told The Mirror: "My little guardian angel. He saved my life, in a way. Knowing that I was pregnant was a chance of a new lease of life."
Two years later she was badly injured in a car crash with Robert that happened when a car jumped the filter light and hit them at 50mph.
"I had my seatbelt loosely over my arm, and I went through the windscreen and it pulled me back. I left half my face stuck on the windscreen. The skin, the flesh," she said.
"I lost my right eyelid, my nose and lip were sliced completely across, my nose was broken. The ambulance man pushed my eye back into the socket, because it was hanging out by the vein.
"They've had to rebuild my face. I've had three operations and I've got another big one to go. I still get lumps of glass coming out. At times I really hate my face because it's not what it was. And that's my own fault as well, because of years of drug abuse.
"But then I know I'm fortunate to have my sight. I think: 'I'm lucky to be here at all.'"
The couple split later that year.
Whirlwind marriage
Danniella dived straight into another relationship with van driver Ben Morgan, who she'd met in a petrol station.
Within eight weeks, they were hitched and relocating to Australia, but life Down Under didn't suit the ex-soap star.
They split just nine months later and Danniella returned to London and spent time in a US detox clinic.
"I made a mistake. I got married. I knew I'd get a good deal with Hello. That was my son's future. I'd had a bad accident, I wasn't working," she said.
"Don't think badly of me, but I had no money at all. I was absolutely on the floor. I was driving an X-reg Volvo, really struggling. I did it to give Kai a better life."
Millionaire love
Danniella and Kevin married for 13 years before they split in 2014 (Brian Cassey)
Former flames Danniella and Kevin raised their daughter Jodie together (Press Association)Danniella then matched with her new boyfriend, millionaire businessman Kevin Jenkins.
The couple had their daughter, Jodie, in September 2001, then got hitched just three months later.
"I was with him for three days when he flew me to Florida first class for a week. He got down on one knee and proposed on the flight home, all the Virgin stewardesses were clapping. We got engaged on Valentine's Day. He took me to Tiffany's for the ring. He gave me a Porsche Boxter for Christmas," she previously told The Mirror.
But, in 2014, the 13-year marriage was dead.
He blamed her drug use for the breakdown of their relationship and claimed she once passed out at 3pm on Christmas Day after taking cocaine.
"After we split, I warned her she'd end up in the gutter or dead if she didn't stop. But she didn't listen," he said.
Toy boy party-boy
Next, Danniella turned her affections to on-and-off boyfriend, Tom Richards, then 24, who she was often spotted partying with.
Before long, they were engaged to be married, but friends feared the worst.
Tom later broke down in tears as he confessed to taking the Class A drug on wild nights out with the star. They separated after less than one year.
Cheating claims
Not deterred by her experience with Tom, Danniella then embarked on a fling with another younger man, 24-year-old George Arnold.
They quickly moved in together, but after just one year she accused him of having an affair with her best friend - claims he denied. Unsurprisingly, they went their separate ways.
'Snog scandal'
Danniella and Alan were engaged for a short while before it fell apart (John Gladwin/Sunday Mirror)
She was accused of cheating on him whilst on holiday in Benidorm (John Gladwin/Sunday Mirror)Danniella then had a relationship with Alan Thomason, and the couple got engaged. But it fell apart in record time.
After getting pregnant, she was accused of "cheating" on her toyboy fiancé with an even younger man during an all-day Benidorm drinking session.
Speaking to The Sun, the man in question said: "My mate pointed out that Danniella Westbrook was over by the toilet so I went over and started chatting to her, and for a laugh said, 'Give us a kiss'.
"The next thing I know she's all over me, snogging the life out of me, and we stayed with her for about six hours on a drinking session.
"We kissed between 10 and 15 times, I had her sitting on my lap and everything."
Danniella later suffered a miscarriage and they split in September 2017.
Jailbird fiancé
Danniella has been with her convict fiancé David, who is believed to be 28 and from Liverpool, for around six years.
She has previously said they met in 2017, when they were both living in Spain and have been in an on-and-off relationship ever since.
They appeared to be on a break when he got sent to prison, but they have since rekindled their romance.
Danniella publicly calls him "bubba Scouse" and they are set to be reunited in September, when he is apparently due to be released from prison.
She told the Daily Star: "There will be many sleepless nights on my gorgeous new bed once he's out."
The couple have dated for around six years and he is currently behind bars (Instagram)
Danniella has been wedding dress shopping to prepare for their big day (Instagram)Discussing their 20-year age gap, Danniella has compared herself and David to the late Barbara Windsor and her widower husband Scott Mitchell.
Danniella previously told The Sun that she will be walking down the aisle to David later this year.
Opening up about her relationship, she said: "It's just waiting for him to come home now. We're very much together and wedding plans are moving forward.
"Actually just today I went and put a deposit down on a wedding dress. We'll be getting married abroad – I can't say much more than right now but I just can't wait to marry him."