Tara: I turned to cocaine out of jealousy of my perfect sister

By Ben Todd


Black sheep: Tara with her sister Santa Montefiore at a book launch last year


Tara Palmer-Tomkinson has claimed that she turned to drugs because she found it impossible to compete with her ‘angelic’ older sister.

The socialite, whose cocaine habit cost £400 a day at its worst and caused her nose to collapse, candidly revealed that she felt her role in the family was to be the ‘black sheep’.

The 39-year-old is two years younger than her novelist sister, Santa Montefiore, wife of historian Simon Sebag Montefiore.


As young girls, the pair were inseparable – both at the family home of Dummer Grange in Hampshire and boarding together at Sherborne Girls school in Dorset.

However, TV presenter Miss Palmer-Tomkinson – whose parents have been friends with Prince Charles for more than 30 years and who was a guest at the royal wedding – felt she was unable to escape from the shadows of her sister’s success.

She explained: ‘It got to the point where I just thought, “She’s already got the role as the sister who gets all the praise. I just can’t compete.”

‘Not only that, but she’d turned into this real beauty with the nickname: “The girl with the longest legs in Hampshire.”

‘So my answer was basically that if I was going to be the black sheep I wanted to be the biggest black sheep.’

The sisters lived together in London in their 20s, and Miss Palmer-Tomkinson recalled: ‘I became this night owl. As she was going out [to work], I’d be coming in from some West End club or shady lock-in, having scored [drugs] in Brixton, lost a shoe in Camden and my keys somewhere in-between.

‘It was pretty mad and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have fun, if I didn’t love that first time with cocaine. I was seduced by the whole thing.’

Glamour: Tara, now 39, had to undergo £6,000 worth of corrective surgery on her nose in 2006 after years of drug abuse


Miss Palmer-Tomkinson entered a rehab clinic in Arizona in 1999 and claims not to have taken drugs since.

Nonetheless, in 2006 she needed corrective surgery – costing £6,000 – because the years of drug abuse had led to her nose collapsing.

However, the reconstructed septum did not last and last month, following a temporary fix for April’s royal wedding, her septum was rebuilt again using cartilage from one of her ribs.


source:dailymail

'I feel like a different person': Tara Palmer-Tomkinson shows off her new nose as she reveals she's ready to date again

By Emily Sheridan


How do I look? Tara Palmer-Tomkinson shows off her newly reconstructed nose in a photoshoot for the August issue of SHE magazine


Six weeks after undergoing an operation to reconstruct her nose, Tara Palmer-Tomkinson is finally ready to show it off.

The former 'It girl' has regained her confidence after years of feeling insecure about her appearance.

In a refreshingly honest interview for the new issue of She magazine, the 39-year-old admitted she was 'destroyed' by the criticism she received about her previously disfigured nose.


The socialite revealed she was particularly hurt by assumptions the latest damage was due to her using drugs again, when in fact it was due to not maintaining a previous operation on her nose.

She tells the magazine: 'What hurt most is the people writing about what was actually a disfigurement on my face. It destroyed me. My confidence was wrecked.'

Although her nose was initially damaged by her former drug use, the former reality star has been clean for years and was upset when she was accused of using again.

She explained: 'When I first had my nose rebuilt in 2006, I only had three of the 12 aftercare sessions that I was meant to have. Stupidly I started to play around with fillers.

Glowing: Palmer-Tomkinson says she finally feels ready to date again after years of low self-esteem


'In the first operation, they used cartilage from the ear to rebuild my nose which is quite delicate. Since then, I’ve had a series of breakages and fragmentations, and it became misshapen.'


Palmer-Tomkinson underwent a three-hour op at a Harley Street clinic on June 1, where cartilage from one of her ribs was used to rebuild the nose.

Having adjusted to her new nose, the socialite is finally rebuilding her confidence: 'I can’t tell you how wonderful I feel - like a different person.

'Before, I didn’t want to go out, I didn’t want to date. And now I want to go out, I want to date again. I feel 10 years younger. I feel really excited. I feel I’m symmetrical again - inside and out.'

Palmer-Tomkinson admitted she felt so low about her nose in the run-up to her friend Prince William's wedding to Kate Middleton in April, she declined press interviews.

She said: ' I was asked to do interviews in the run-up, but when I refused they started to focus on my nose. I think people assumed the damage had come from doing more drugs. I was in the darkest place I’ve ever been.'

When she did attend the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's wedding, she stood out in a bright blue dress and matching hat by milliner Philip Treacy.

Reflecting on the day, she said: 'I felt like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. I could have chosen a veil to cover up my nose but Philip said, "We are not covering up your nose; life is about personality."'



source:dailymail