While inside the New York Sanitation Department she was scrubbing floors, outside she kept the world captivated by her daily change into eye-popping outfits.

The catwalk star recently said she had found solace in cleaning.

Naomi has been attempting to transform her image after following a series of negative publicity over her temper.

Campbell tells of sweeping ’solace’ - May 7 2007
Supermodel Naomi Campbell found "solace in sweeping" during her community service sentence for throwing a mobile phone which hit her maid’s head, according to US reports.
See photos of Naomi’s community service

The catwalk star, who spent five days mopping, sweeping and scrubbing toilets in Manhattan, wrote a diary of her days carrying out the sentence in which she talks about taking responsibility for her actions and bonding with her co-workers.

Extracts of the diary entries, which will appear in the next edition of W magazine on Friday, were published in the New York Post.

The 36-year-old wrote: "I find solace in sweeping. I have no other responsibility. I have no phone. I have the time to think. Just have, you know, peace."

She wrote: "As we were working, one of my co-workers tells me how he ended up here, which was basically because of alcohol. I bond with him, and I tell him I’m in recovery."

The supermodel tells how she first sought treatment for her addictions in 1999 but "never really looked into myself, deep below the surface".

She added: "What I came to realise is that I had to surrender. I’m such a controlling person, but I had to just let go and let something higher than me be in control of my destiny. You have to let yourself become vulnerable again.

"Some people can handle a drink or a line of cocaine, but I’ve finally come to realise that, for me, it’s all or nothing - and it has to be nothing. And my life has changed since."

Campbell describes how she was proud of her work at the sanitation department facility at Pier 36 in Manhattan, New York, and how she got to know her co-workers, including a man called Marc who worked on Wall Street and offered to carry her bag for her on the third day.

After the model completed her sentence and left the sanitation offices in a sequin encrusted floor-length silver evening gown, Campbell wrote that she felt: "like I’ve paid my debt to society. I’m not proud of what I did, but it’s something I definitely learned from. Now I have to get on with my life, keep working on my problems and go to meetings every day."

Naomi: I feel like I’ve let people down - April 11 2007
Naomi Campbell has spoken about her community service experience for the first time - insisting she didn’t scrub any toilets. See photos of Naomi’s community service

The shamed supermodel - who described her five-day stint as a cleaner at the New York City Department of Sanitation as "humbling" - told Access Hollywood she "swept" and "cleaned walls and tables and offices".

As for reports she got down on her hands and knees to scour toilets, Naomi said simply: "No. I didn’t."

The model also revealed she made a few new friends.

"I just got to be with people and learn a lot about people that I would never really get to meet in my job," she said.

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