Danniella Westbrook enjoyed some rest and relaxation when she hit the beach on Monday while recovering from facial reconstruction surgery in Portugal.
The former EastEnders star, 49, looked in high spirits as she sunbathed by the seafront.
The actress slipped on for the day in a blue and pink crop top with lime green bikini bottoms.
The outing comes as Danniella admitted she’s not happy with her appearance after undergoing reconstruction surgery in Turkey to save her collapsing face.
Danniella had a thread lift, liposuction in her cheeks and lips, fat grafting on her chin and her jawline etched after her septum collapsed from excessive drug use in 2002.
Sun-kissed: Danniella Westbrook enjoyed some rest and relaxation while on the beach recovering from facial reconstruction surgery in Portugal on Monday
Life is a beach: The former EastEnders star, 49, looked in high spirits as she sunbathed on the shore
Candid: The outing comes as Danniella admitted she is not happy with her appearance after undergoing reconstruction surgery in Turkey to save her collapsing face
On Instagram, the actress shared a photo of herself taken before surgery and said she couldn’t believe what was done to her.
She wrote, “Three months ago I looked like this and thought I looked awful. I’d give my world to look like this again…
“I can’t believe what was done to me by this operation.”
Since her surgery, Danniella wore thick bandages around her head and nose, but took them off earlier this month.
The television personality is shocked after she was hospitalized again hours after landing in Portugal due to a health hazard.
Taking to her Instagram Stories on Sunday, she wrote, “Only I was able to land back in Portugal after surgery and then end up in hospital.
“The pain I have experienced is unreal, the most terrifying few days. Literally need it like a hole in your head.”
When Danniella first woke up after the lengthy procedure, she said she looked “like she’d done 10 rounds with Tyson Fury.”
Fun in the sun: The actress donned a blue and pink patterned crop top for the day, along with lime green bikini bottoms
Casual: Danniella also wore sunglasses and styled her blonde locks in an updo
Surgery: Danniella had a thread lift, liposuction in her cheeks and lips, fat grafting on her chin, and her jawline etched after her septum collapsed from excessive drug use in 2002
She had wanted the reconstruction for seven years, but couldn’t find a surgeon who would operate because her septum had completely collapsed.
She told The Sun: ‘I was very scared. My mother and my son Kai were constantly on the phone – I made a will before I left and my son is the executor of it.
‘But luckily I’m still here and I came through the other side. Someone is looking over me. I looked like I went 10 rounds with Tyson Fury.
“But the swelling actually subsided very quickly. I am already happy with the results.’
Danniella says she paid for the surgery herself, despite being offered freebies from clinics around the world, after a health scare left her in intensive care last year because she struggled to breathe through her nose.
While in the recovery phase, Danniella just needs to stick to ibuprofen and acetaminophen, as any stronger painkiller could be a trigger for her past cocaine addiction.
Danniella previously revealed she needed five surgeries to correct her ‘collapsing’ face due to a previous cocaine addiction and osteoporosis, and planned to have it done on the NHS.
She told The Sun: ‘I’ve been trying to get someone to do it for the past seven years but they said no in case it failed and they got cut.
Under the knife: Since her procedure, Danniella wore thick bandages around her head and nose, but took them off earlier this month
Ordeal: The television personality is shocked after being hospitalized hours after landing in Portugal due to a health hazard
Recovery: When Danniella first woke up after the lengthy procedure, she said she looked ‘like she’d done 10 rounds with Tyson Fury’
‘Plastic surgeons wanted £500,000 to change my face, so I thought I’d never get it done. It was only because I went to intensive care before Christmas.
“I couldn’t breathe because I had a cold. There was a build up of fluid and after falling asleep I couldn’t wake up properly and ended up in ICU.
“I was sent to Aintree Hospital in Liverpool and that’s only because I was in front of the right doctors, otherwise I would be waiting to find someone. “They’re doing it for me now under the NHS.”
Danniella underwent a rib insertion procedure earlier in 2018 after osteoporosis rotted away her cheekbones and gums and, having received lip filler and Botox for the past year, in addition to surgery on her face, she hopes to get back to her best.
The actress’s struggles with drugs have been widely publicized and her nose was famously reconstructed after her septum collapsed from excessive cocaine use in 2002.
At the height of her use, she reportedly used up to five grams of cocaine a day, wasting nearly £250,000 on the drug.
Surgery: Danniella previously revealed she needed five surgeries to correct her ‘collapsing’ face due to a previous cocaine addiction and osteoporosis, and planned to have it done on the NHS.
The star has since embarked on multiple bouts of rehab to battle her demons – revealing she was finally clean in June 2021, after attending a clinic in Mijas, Spain.
Danniella first appeared in EastEnders in 1990 at the age of 16 and starred in the soap for three years.
She returned in 1996, but her time was cut short when her off-screen behavior got her fired.
She returned shortly after, but was suspended again in 2000 after further disruptive behaviour, admitting to blowing £100,000 worth of cocaine at the time.
The role was recast between 2002 and 2005 and played by Kim Medcalf, but Danniella returned to the role again in 2009 to 2010.
She was back again in 2016 for the storyline surrounding the on-screen death of mother Peggy Mitchell, which is her last appearance to date.
