Drink has torn my family apart
GEORDIE SHORE STAR VICKY’S HEARTACHE
ian.johnson01@trinitymirror.com VICKY Pattison has revealed her father’s alcoholism has torn her family apart – and vowed never to follow in his footsteps.
The former Geordie Shore star has been left devastated by dad John’s decade-long battle with booze, which forced wife Carroll to leave him last year after 35 years.
Now Vicky, 30, says she used to blame herself for 59-year-old John’s addiction.
She told Fabulous magazine: “I’ve watched my strong, breadwinning, funny, life-and-soul-ofthe-party dad become an old man. It’s the worst thing that’s happened to me.
“He drinks himself to accidents. He’s drunk himself to two heart attacks and a stroke. He can’t control this demon.”
Carroll still supports John – who is now sober – as he attends AA meetings.
But describing his struggle, Vicky added: “He’d lock himself away, just wanting to drink on his own, and created a really terrible atmosphere.
“He’d lie about it and refuse to acknowledge how bad he was.
“He started going to AA but he came back from there and said ‘Vicky, there’s this bloke who drinks a bottle of vodka a day.’
“I was like ‘Dad you smash that in before breakfast, and you’re in denial.’”
Vicky shot to fame as part of the hard-partying Geordie Shore cast.
But her binge-drinking landed her in court for drunkenly striking a model’s face with a stiletto after downing “10 pints of alcohol and shots of spirits”.
In 2016, she underwent therapy to curb her boozing – admitting she’s an “awful drunk”.
But since meeting fiancé John Noble, 30, two years ago, Vicky claims he’s eased fears she would end up like her dad.
“He’s told me that my dad is a different person and a product of a different environment and era,” she told the magazine.
“Just because I have some of his genes, I’m not automatically going to be like him.
“I used to panic I was my dad’s daughter. As I got older, I got scared I was him. It almost became a selffulfilling prophecy.
“But I’ll never let anything else control me – no substance, no person, no mindset. I’m in charge here. I’m in control.”