Daniella Westbrook In Therapy. On now C5

[SoleBizzz]

Anybody watching?

[FlissMumsnet]

We've had a few reports about this thread and just wanted to stop by with a link to our We Believe You Campaign - please take a look.

This ongoing Mumsnet campaign has two simple aims: first, to shine a spotlight on the prevalence of rape and sexual assault in women's lives; then, to pull apart the many myths surrounding rape and abuse, which make so many women feel that they will not be believed if they report this crime. To all those women, we say: we believe you.

Please bear this in mind when posting.

Many thanks flowers

[2yummymummy2]

There are cases where people lie about abuse

Truly only dw knows what happened since she won't name anyone and could do freely on Twitter/online via her agent or a 3rd party

Cliff Richards abuse victim made it up, sometimes people do lie about abuse unfortunately

I agree that Mandy's therapy format is just wrong and forceful and caused dw much distress but these tv appearance are how dw makes money. She wasn't being sectioned and held there, she could of left at any point

Dw needs help 100%, she says she's off drugs but she couldnt even keep her eyes open throughout it. Looked a mess, hadn't showered, greasy hair etc

Chanel 5 shouldn't of put her on the show and I do feel sorry for dw. She hasn't got it together and needs help

[SomeDaysIDontGiveAMonkeys]

Tea I just couldn't watch it. You're right DW seems far too unwell for that. It just seems so unethical such a vulnerable young woman being used like this.

[TealLove]

I didn't like the Therapists methods with her at all.
All wrong !

Daniella looks like a caged animal. She is too unwell for this actually.

[Just5minswithDacre]

I will add that I think these 'therapy' expose's are downright vile and destructive. Therapy should be a private relationship built on trust. Not some sort of entertainment. Disgusting

Hear hear.

[SomeDaysIDontGiveAMonkeys]

AND having personal and professional knowledge of Mandy Saligari she'll do anything for PR and many have said is the most un therapeutic person to work with. Funny thing is the programme makers approached several other psychotherapists (who I know) who turned channel 5 down due to ethics.

[SomeDaysIDontGiveAMonkeys]

I will add that I think these 'therapy' expose's are downright vile and destructive. Therapy should be a private relationship built on trust. Not some sort of entertainment. Disgusting

[SomeDaysIDontGiveAMonkeys]

Poor lass. My heart goes out to anyone struggling like this. Especially when they tend to be judged by so many.

[Moistly]

I've always felt sad for Danniella Westbrook. I've read about how she started going off the rails in her Eastenders days and was subsequently dismissed. I've always thought that was where the abuse happened.
I also feel sad for Brian Harvey in the same way. Those two were a couple years back and I saw them together more recently protesting Brians utility bill at Downing Street
Drug issues for the pair of them for so many years. So sad.

[thatdarncat]

I believe her 100%.

She looks traumatised, exhausted and unwell, not to mention haunted.

I'm so glad Mumsnet stepped in earlier. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but when you look back at all the other murky stuff that has gone on in recent years, it's no wonder victims kept quiet for so long. No one believes them or the survivor of abuse thinks they won't be believed. Well Danniella, I believe you.

[EnriqueTheRingBearingLizard]

Yes I'm familiar with the side effects of medication which can seem like drunkeness and I didn't think it was like that at all. I saw the explanation from the therapist as well, which I think was in the part where she was talking about the camera crew's explanation of the lateness being quite different from DW's.

Anyhow I didn't particularly want to go down that route and I am fully aware it was an edited programme. My point was that she looked and sounded in a bad place and I didn't feel that taking on therapy as a paid job was in her best interests really. What further support she may have had after filming stopped we don't know and it may have been useful for her, but it felt too intrusive for someone who's so clearly vulnerable, so I'll leave it there.

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

The therapist explained why aggression and defensiveness are extremely common.

I have a relative with bi polar and needs to be heavily medicated, they knock her for six, someone's she slurs her words and is spacey. It's not a case of taking your meds and feeling better sometimes.

[YellowShockedFace]

I believe her. I just looked on YouTube and saw her interview on This Morning. She said no one would believe her as she was a drug addict and deserved it. That's sad. Nobody deserves it.

[EnriqueTheRingBearingLizard]

Maybe, but surely by now her meds would be helping? when I said the look of her I meant her whole appearance including body language. She was aggressive as well as fearful and defensive and possibly untruthful too (as to why she was late)

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

She said she is bi polar, her meds for that might make her appear that she's taken something.

[EnriqueTheRingBearingLizard]

I saw it because it came on after Big Brother and I'd seen Daniella on that in the past, but I felt uncomfortable watching. She definitely strikes me as someone who was used, abused and exploited from a tender age and who grew up in the public eye not knowing how to make good choices.

Just looking at her eyes in some of those sessions, she didn't look right. Rightly or wrongly, from the look of her and her reactions, I drew the conclusion that she'd either been drinking, or had taken something.

Essentially I didn't feel that it was right to make a programme where the subject is paid as a job, to undergo filmed therapy. It felt cheap to me and exploitative. I won't be watching any more.

[LadyStarkOfWinterfell]

Victims often don't present like yo thing they might or 'should'
DW seems very likely to have been abused to me - child actor, probably exploited/exposed to powerful older people, drug addiction at a young age, it all adds up imo

[TealLove]

She does look totally traumatised.
I feel deeply sad for her.

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

She does Phil. It's really sad to see someone so self destructive.

[Philoslothy]

I am so pleased that MN have stepped into this thread. Accusations that she is making up the abuse are vile. Do we only believe abuse victims who act in a nice manner. Sexual abuse victim acts in an angry, destructive and not particulate likeable manner is hardly shock horror news. She behaves in exactly the manner that somebody traumatised by abuse would act.

[Chupachupslips]

I'm going to stick my neck out here!

I feel sorry for her. She is extremely self distructive and that's come from deep self loathing. She probally has had too much therapy and no one now could ever reach in and help as her issues are way to deep.

The talking about bring abused and not wanting to go further with them is completly normal. It's almost as if she is actually desensitised to it herself now.

[bruffin]

I share the same surname and lived close by where she used to live ( although didnt realise how close at the time) i had a phoene line which we didnt use and got some very dodgy phonecalls asking for Daniella. I had to report the caller to the police after a week of daily calls.

[DawnMumsnet]

We've had a few reports about this thread and just wanted to stop by with a link to our We Believe You Campaign - please take a look.

This ongoing Mumsnet campaign has two simple aims: first, to shine a spotlight on the prevalence of rape and sexual assault in women's lives; then, to pull apart the many myths surrounding rape and abuse, which make so many women feel that they will not be believed if they report this crime. To all those women, we say: we believe you.

Please bear this in mind when posting.

Many thanks

[Just5minswithDacre]

"We believe you" applies to survivors of child abuse, right?

[SpongeBobJudgeyPants]

I'm quite uncomfortable with the idea of people not believing she was abused tbh. Very rarely do people make this stuff up.