Danniella Westbrook claims cosmetic surgeon operated without anaesthetic and slapped her

Danniella Westbrook has claimed a cosmetic surgeon cut her face open without anaesthetic and then slapped her to get her to stop crying.

The former EastEnders star – who flew to Turkey to undergo facial reconstructive surgery to repair damage to her face caused by cocaine abuse – said she was told she would be given Botox and fillers to straighten her nose, but the surgeon then operated on her face unexpectedly.

Westbrook, 49, told The Sun: "I didn't think they were going to start opening me up. They were all talking in Turkish earlier on and they just said I can do filler and Botox."

Read more: Danniella Westbrook in A&E after having panic attacks

The former Dancing On Ice contestant, who is currently recovering in Portugal, claimed she asked why she was being given injections in her foot and was told it was a vitamin drip.

She went on: "I'm sitting with my head back. She pours iodine on my hair. I thought, 'Well, this is a new revelation for Botox and filler.' They normally get a little black Biro, but she shaved the side of my hair.

"He walks in, in his blue outfit and she just says, 'Oh I'll put three injections in here, here and here' to numb me.

"As soon as she put them in one side of my face and before she could walk over to the other, he's picked a little tube off from the side, nowhere near where she shaved my head or did the injection, and lasered this big f***ing thing on the side.

"I'm sat there going, 'Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing? I can feel that.' F*****g hell it was painful, a hot laser through my skin.

"She took my phone off me 'cause I was filming. It's informative, I was gonna do a YouTube thing.

"So I'm screaming, I'm sitting there, but out of shock I'm crying. He's got three metal rods and put them into my face."

The former I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! went on: "He's gone behind me, grabbed my face, he's gone, 'Stop f***ing moving,' and slapped me on the other side of the face. I switched. I went, 'Who the f**k are you slapping?'"

Watch: Danniella Westbrook suffers breathing difficulties as a result of her collapsing palate

Westbrook claimed the surgeon then left the room and his assistant stitched her back up with non-dissolvable sutures.

She said: "I was there for was my nose and my mouth, for proper surgery. I've got my gums receding back. Eventually I'm going to suffocate. This is not cosmetic, I need a medical procedure."

Westbrook said she was sent home with no antibiotics and temporarily lost sight in her right eye due to air pressure after flying back to Portugal.

She still has a bill of £500,000 to repair her face and has been warned if she does not repair the palate in the roof of her mouth at the back of her mouth it will collapse and she will suffocate.

The soap star said she has had to cancel a film shoot she was due to do in Belfast this summer as she still needs corrective surgery on her skull.

Westbrook famously suffered damage to her nasal septum – which separates the nostrils – as a result of past cocaine abuse, and previously revealed bones in her face are rotting away due to osteoporosis caused by botched surgery.

She was admitted to intensive care in Liverpool in 2021 as her collapsing palate meant she was struggling to breathe. She had been hoping to have reconstructive surgery in the UK on medical grounds.

Westbrook began acting as a child and claims she first took cocaine aged 14. She was just 16 when she was cast as Samantha Mitchell in EastEnders.

She spoke out in 2022 to criticise the producers of EastEnders for recasting her character without informing her.

It was announced in January that Kim Medcalf is to return to Albert Square in the role, first played by Westbrook in 1990, but also previously played by Medcalf between 2002 and 2005.

She appeared in Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks in 2013, and has competed in reality shows including Celebrity Big Brother.

Read more: Danniella Westbrook threatens legal action after EastEnders recast Sam Mitchell

In February 2019 she appeared on ITV's The Jeremy Kyle Show to discuss her drink and cocaine addiction.

She admitted: "If I had the money I would be back doing 11 bags a day."

In 2018 she was diagnosed with womb cancer, but was given the all clear by doctors in April 2019.