TV presenter Davina McCall and former Corrie star Kevin Kennedy have talked in-depth about how they were able to maintain their careers while battling heroin and alcohol addictions
Former Coronation Street star Kevin Kennedy and presenter Davina McCall have discussed how they both manipulated friends and family to conceal their addiction problems.
Speaking during a special segment on ITV’s This Morning, they described themselves as ‘maintenance’ addicts who did everything possible to avoid confronting their problems.
Kevin, who played Curly Watts in the soap for 20 years, changed his life around more than 18 years ago after realising he had become a ‘high-functioning alcoholic’.
The 55-year-old told the show on Thursday: “I have never come across a stupid addict. You have to be quite clever and manipulate people well… I was being manipulative with my wife and family at the time.”
Opening up about her own past battle with heroin addiction, Davina, 49, said: “I was a maintenance user and I liked to keep the facade on and always liked to think when I look OK and I’m not stealing, ‘I’m all right, I’m not as bad as them’.’
“There’s always that comparison, so you don’t do anything about it.”
Kevin added: “You are pointing the finger all the time and normally you try to look immaculate as possible.
If you're needing help to cope with alcoholism, we have a lot of helplines over on our website: https://t.co/tmHR55F21S
— This Morning (@thismorning) January 5, 2017
“It’s the swan routine – on top it’s all nice but underneath …”
Revealing how he overcame his alcoholism, he said: “The recovery started when I’d had enough… I was on the way to the Corrie set and it was a moment of sanity.
“There were no bright lights, it was just my voice saying to me you are going to die.”
'@itvcorrie were brilliant, they saved my life. They absolutely saved my life', @mrkevkennedy tells @Schofe and @ThisisDavina #ThisMorning
— This Morning (@thismorning) January 5, 2017
But, he continued: “That moment of surrender was bittersweet because I had a long love affair with alcohol.
“I was married to alcohol, I loved alcohol, alcohol was my friend and I wouldn’t go anywhere without it.”
He eventually succeeded in stemming his habit after Coronation Street bosses helped him into The Priory rehabilitation centre, which Kennedy said ‘absolutely saved my life’.
Now staring in The Commitments in the West End, Kevin said he fills his prop pint glass with apple juice instead of beer to ‘keep himself safe’.
