"Looking back, I’m amazed at my degree of denial and the way I fooled everyone, most of all myself."

But the mother of three says at least there could be one silver lining from her 24 years of addiction.

"I hope that my experiences will show my kids that alcohol and drugs are not the way."

Patsy: I was high filming EastEnders - Mar 26 2007
Patsy Palmer has revealed that she took drugs including cannabis, solvents and LSD from the age of 11, and was sometimes high on ecstasy while on the EastEnders set.

The 34-year-old made the claims in her autobiography, entitled All of Me, extracts of which were published in the News of the World.

She said: "Often I arrived at work after partying and being off my head on drugs all night. Sometimes I was still high on ecstasy. I don’t think anyone realised. They thought my exuberant moods were natural."

The actress added that she realised she had a problem and began receiving treatment in 2004.

Since leaving the soap, she’s taken part in Strictly Come Dancing and controversial reality BBC show The Verdict, as well as appearing in several TV dramas and co-founding beauty company Palmer Cutler.

Patsy, who is married to Richard Merkell, also has three children.

No more Bianca - May 04
Patsy Palmer has vowed that she will never return to Eastenders.

In an interview with The Mirror Patsy Palmer has spoken about her decision to leave the BBC soap for the first time. Patsy said that she believed that her character went as far as she could go and would not go back to playing the part again. She also said that towards the end of her time on Eastenders she was too exhausted to go on and is now glad to have time to herself. Patsy is currently starring in the hit musical, Tell Me On A Sunday.

Patsy’s body lotion - 26/11/03
East end lass Patsy Palmer and her Bessie mate have designed a range of pampering body lotions.

Is there anything actresses can’t do when they turn their mind to it? Patsy and her friend Charlotte Cutler have come up with the range called ’Palmer-Cutler It...Is Sweet’, which boasts of four delish, sweet flavours. There is maple syrup, cinnamon, demerara and brown sugar, all of which are available from Debenhams, priced £4.99.

Blimey luv, I wouldn’t know whether to rub it in or eat it.

Palmer’s new drama - 15/07/03
Bethnal Green born Eastender Patsy Palmer is set to star in a new BBC1 drama.

Patsy is starring in an a adaptation of an Anthony Trollope novel, He Knew He Was Right.

The period drama follows what happens when a 19th Century supposedly ideal marriage goes horribly wrong.

Palmer to make her West End debut - 17/01/03
Eastender Patsy Palmer is to make her West End debut in a comedy about the trials of motherhood.

The mother of three, will play a bedraggled young parent in Mum’s The Word at London’s Albery Theatre.

The six-strong line-up includes comedienne Jenny Eclair, Band Of Gold star Cathy Tyson and Carol Decker, singer with Eighties band T’Pau.

Mum’s The Word promises to tell the truth about life as a new mother and takes a humorous look at how previously glamorous career women can turn into "exhausted, bedraggled amateurs" when they have a child.

It exposes motherhood as a daily round of "bathwater, food, spit, snot, blood, vomit, urine and faeces."

The play, which opens on March 18, has already toured the UK after success in Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand.