British celebrity Paula Hamilton is rebuilding her life in Nelson, fearing she would die of a drug overdose like her friend Paula Yates if she stayed in England.
Hamilton, aged 39, described by Hello magazine as "the model who encapsulated the eighties," spends her days walking on the beach and working
in a restaurant.
She told the Mail on Sunday newspaper she was on chemicals to control her drug habit.
The former Marks & Spencer model plans to build a house in the town.
After being on treatment for alcohol abuse since she was 24, she said, she was taking her last chance to rebuild her life, away from the temptations of drugs and alcohol on the British celebrity circuit.
"I haven't had a drink for four months. They have been my best four months ever. I feel useful and happy. I know this is probably my last chance so I am going to fight hard.
"Alcohol makes you mad. I became a self-destructive manic with a compulsion to drink."
The death of Yates in September was the catalyst for the move.
"Only a day or two before I read about her death, I was hunting for her number, trying to reach her to come out and join me to clean out, to get healthy, to give the children some space to grow up."
Hamilton starred in one of Britain's most successful TV advertisements, for the VW Golf. She appeared in the last video for pop star Robbie Williams' former band Take That, and dated Tory Party bankroller Michael Ashcroft.
Her relationship with Ashcroft was a disaster that led to a suicide attempt.
"I took a massive amount of heroin but still woke up the next day."
She is now helping young people with problems similar to her own, and plans to start a programme or centre where they can get the treatment she is on.
- NZPA
