I want to beat my addictions and make my little sister Patsy proud
» Former addict Albert » Ex-con is determined to to make amends with star get clean once and for all
EXCLUSIVE
BY MATTHEW YOUNG and PHIL CARDY AS she breezed back on to the set of Eastenders earlier this year, Patsy Palmer was all smiles.
But the returning soap legend is nursing a family heartache – her older brother is facing a fresh fight to beat his addiction demons.
Millions of viewers saw Patsy, 51, reprise her iconic role as bolshie Bianca Jackson in the soap.
And among those tuning in was her 56-year-old brother Albert Harris, who is preparing to embark on a very different journey of his own.
This month, he will check in at a detox centre for three weeks ahead of a three-month stint at a primary treatment facility.
Albert, who has battled heroin addiction since 15, has been clean for more than a year but wants to end his need for the methadone medicine that staves off his deadly cravings.
The pain of addiction is one he shares with Patsy, who moved to America in 2014. She has been vocal about her own demons and once confessed to turning up on set after taking ecstasy.
But now it is Albert battling substance abuse. And once free of his reliance on methadone, he plans to dedicate the rest of his life to helping others who are struggling with addiction issues.
Albert was released from HMP Rochester in 2022 after serving a fiveyear sentence for armed robbery in East London. It was his second stint in prison, as he was handed another five-year term for the same offence in Bristol in 2010.
Albert says he has not spoken to his famous sister for about a year but he is keen to make amends.
“I know I can have an alternative life,” he told us. “I have problems with addiction and I want my little sister to see that I can get better and stay better.
“I want to make our mum proud and I want to make Patsy proud. Me and Patsy were always close but it’s been a bit difficult since she’s lived in America and with my convictions.
“I’m stuck on this medication but soon I will be going in somewhere and I’ll have that freedom back and can start a new life. If I had another 10 years, I’d spend it helping others. I’d like to be a counsellor or volunteer to help people with addiction.
“I’ve spent most of my life dealing with this and I know I can put my experiences to use, better myself and help others. I believe it’s never too late to change.”
Albert says it was him who first got Patsy into acting after he saw a newspaper advert for the Anna Scher Theatre in Islington, North London.
He was 10 and his sister was just five when they landed their first roles, in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. Albert said: “Julie [Patsy’s real name] came along with me to Anna Scher and, of course, became a brilliant actress. I played truant but she stayed with it.”
The two were raised, along with brother Harry, by their dressmaker mum Pat after she split with their dad, a taxi driver, when Patsy was eight and Albert was 13.
Older brother Harry moved out and Albert and Patsy lived together with their mum for five more years.
Patsy landed the role of Bianca in Eastenders in 1993, aged 21, and last appeared in the show more than four years ago. Earlier this month, soap fans saw her character back on screen when she was visited in Milton Keynes by stepdaughter Whitney Dean (Shona Mcgarty).
Albert, who lives alone in a onebedroom flat, said of his sister’s role reprisal: “I saw her on telly and thought she was great. She looked great, too.”
Albert told how he has been taking methadone since leaving prison.
He says he was given the medicine to help him cope with pain after
I know I can have an alternative life. I want my little sister to see I can get better and stay better
surgery to remove a tumour from his lower spine. But he said: “It makes me feel so tired. I’m a slave to the chemist and I can’t get a job while I’m on it. I can sit and watch TV and do nothing else for days.
“As soon as people know I’m on methadone and know about my past, it’s very difficult. But it stops my cravings and prevents me from going into that dark world, being around those people and committing crimes.”
Albert, who attends three or four Narcotics Anonymous meetings a week, said he has taken heroin on two occasions since being released from jail but not for the past year.
He said: “I just don’t want to be that person any more. I know I’m ill and I know if I think I’m better and stop going to meetings, I’ll become addicted again.
“I’m doing a lot of work with myself – the meetings help with your mental state and your emotions, and I get support from my key workers. But ultimately, I just long to be free and live a normal life.”
Albert said he would love to meet up with his sister again – once he’s fully clean. “I am so proud of her, and I want her to be proud of me,” he said.
“I want to get clean and then see her again. We’ll go for a coffee and a chat.
“The last time we spoke was on Facetime a year ago. It’s difficult because she’s in America. But she’s my sister. We’ll always be close.”
Patsy has previously told how she spent €14,000 trying to help Albert kick the habit. The actress and DJ, who appeared on Dancing on Ice last year, has also spoken candidly about her own battles with drink and drugs.
In her autobiography, All of Me, Patsy recalled turning up for work at Eastenders as high as a kite on ecstasy. She
wrote: “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.
“But I was taking huge amounts of ecstasy, vomiting all over dance floors then taking more drugs. Then I’d shower and change before appearing on set.
“At lunch, I’d grab a Mars bar and a coke and have a sleep in my changing room.”
In the 2007 book, Patsy also confessed to smoking marijuana at 11 and then going on to sniff solvents. The mum-offour wrote: “Sometimes I think, ‘How am I not dead?’ given the drink, drugs, lack of sleep, lack of proper nutrition and non-stop schedule I inflicted on myself.” Patsy is now totally clean and living her dream life in Malibu with husband Richard Merkell and their kids. Speaking about her life in the States, Patsy said: “It’s beautiful. We live in our own little bubble. Malibu is its own little place but we very much keep ourselves to ourselves and we have a lot of English friends
“I pinch myself every morning when I wake up and see the ocean – it’s like a dream. But I’ve created that. I don’t think I would live in England again. I’d like to experience something else in life but I’m not too sure if I will.”
Patsy was approached for comment.
I know I’m ill and if I think I’m better and stop going to my meetings, I’ll get addicted again