Britain’s booziest teen: “Getting pregnant at 16 saved my life”
As a schoolgirl, Nicola Weaver used to drink until she passed out. Now, she’s a model mum of three with another on the way
Dubbed Britain’s worst teen drinker at just 15 years old, Nicola Weaver downed 26 pints of cider, ten cans of lager and a bottle of vodka each week. Her shocking binges even landed her in hospital after she choked on her own vomit, and her longsuffering mum Jenni, 45, gave Nicola’s mugshot to local pubs, begging them not to serve her.
But after getting pregnant at 16, Nicola was forced to quit boozing. And, since her daughter Freya was born in July 2012, she only drinks on special occasions. Nicola, 23, from Bridlington, who is also a full-time mum to Hunter, two, and Miller, one, says, “If I hadn’t got pregnant in my teens, I don’t think I’d be here today. I’d drink until I blacked out, I barely went to school, and my relationship with my mum was in tatters. Pregnancy changed my priorities completely. I knew I had to get my act together.
“Now, I never drink cider – the thought of it makes my stomach turn,” Nicola says. “I only have alcohol on a special occasion, and even then, I’ll just have a gin and tonic or two.
HORRIFIED
“When I look back, I’m horrified by the way I was acting. I almost killed myself.”
Nicola, who lives with her partner Oliver, 28, began drinking at just 12 years old. She says, “My friends were all doing it, so I tried some cider. I liked the taste and the feeling of being tipsy. There wasn’t much else to do in the area, so after school, we’d go to the park and get drunk. We’d ask strangers to buy us cider before moving onto vodka. Then, as we got older, we managed to get served in the local pubs. I started working as a waitress on Saturdays, so I spent all my wages on booze.”
Nicola was drinking around 152 units of alcohol a week – more than ten times the recommended allowance for a woman – but it wasn’t until she was hospitalised that her mum learnt about her bingeing. Nicola says, “My mum had no idea that I was drinking until I went to a friend’s house and took it too far. I was choking on my own vomit, so my friends rushed me to hospital. I’d drunk 45 units of alcohol – the equivalent of five bottles of wine.
“The doctors didn’t pump my stomach as I’d already been sick, but my mum was livid. After that, she tried to stop me from going out, but we’d argue and I’d storm off anyway. I was out of control. Even when she gave my photograph to the landlords, I’d just get my friends to buy me drinks instead. Then, I started acting up at school. I’d hurl abuse at the teachers or misbehave – anything to get excluded, so I could go home and sleep off the hangover.”
GOOD INFLUENCE
Nicola was 16 when she met Freya’s dad. Six months later, she realised she was pregnant. She remembers, “My period was late, so I took a pregnancy test. As soon as I saw the positive result, everything changed. All I’ve ever wanted was to have children. From that moment, I didn’t even think about drinking. I didn’t find it difficult to quit – I just stopped immediately.”
And, Nicola’s baby news brought her closer to her mum. She says, “At first, mum was angry that I was pregnant, but she could see the change in me, too. We’d spend nights in together, and went shopping for all the baby essentials. Then, when Freya was born, she helped me to look after her. There was no part of me that craved a drink – I didn’t touch a drop until my 18th birthday, but even then, I was only out for a couple of hours before I came home to Freya.”
Nicola split with Freya’s dad before she was born. But, in October 2014, she met Oliver, a plumber. “Oliver rarely drinks, so he’s a good influence
on me,” says Nicola. “And having children together meant I had even more of a reason to stay off the booze.”
And now, Nicola is keen to make sure her children don’t follow in her footsteps. She says, “I’ll do everything I can to keep them away from booze. Freya is six now, but I don’t even like her playing outside in the neighbourhood, as I worry she could start mixing with the wrong kind of children.
EMBARRASSED
“The thought of them going down the same route as I did fills me with dread. I’m embarrassed by my behaviour. I want them to have a healthy relationship with alcohol, and at an appropriate age. When the kids are old enough, I’ll tell them about what I went through. So far, doctors say that I don’t have any lasting effects from alcohol abuse – when I had my pregnancies blood tests showed I was healthy – but I want my children to know about the dangers and how it can mess up your life. I hope I’m a lesson to them that binge drinking just isn’t worth it.”
Now, Nicola’s idea of fun is spending time with her brood, which she will soon be adding to when she gives birth to a boy in December. She says, “Now, taking the children to the park or the zoo is what makes me happy. They mean the absolute world to me, and becoming a mother changed my life. I’ll never go back to my old ways.”
Nicola’s mum Jenni is thrilled to see how her daughter has turned her life around. Jenni says, “When I realised that Nicola was binge drinking, I was so disappointed. I thought I’d taught her to be sensible and make the right choices. When she was discharged from hospital, I sat her down and explained how dangerous her behaviour was. She was drinking to fit in with her friends, and I tried to explain that she didn’t need to bow down to peer pressure.
“But it was no use. I’d try to keep her at home, but we’d have blazing rows and she’d storm off. I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’d turn up at the park or her friend’s house and bring her home. She wasn’t happy when I showed her picture to landlords in the area, but I was at the end of my tether.
PRIDE
“When she called me to say that she was pregnant, I was upset – she was so young. But becoming a teen mum is the best thing that ever happened to Nicola. It was like a switch flipped in her head. She stopped drinking and started staying in, and talking to her about motherhood brought us closer together.
“When I see Nicola with her children now, I could burst with pride. She’s a wonderful mum.”
❛I WAS CHOKING ON MY OWN VOMIT SO MY FRIENDS RUSHED ME TO HOSPITAL❜