Me, Myself... Us – THE DDN CONFERENCE 2026
TIME TO BELIEVE
The Me, Myself … Us afternoon session heard from Liberty X star Michelle Heaton, in a live recording of the Believe in People podcast
T he day’ s final session was a live recording of the award-winning addiction and recovery podcast, Believe in People – which is produced by Change Grow Live’ s ReNew service – featuring singer Michelle Heaton from Liberty X.‘ We’ re normally sat in small studio in Hull, but today we’ re doing it in front of hundreds of people,’ said producer Robbie Lawson.
She was now five years and three months sober, she told the conference. While pop stardom had involved a lot of alcohol and drugs –‘ I had a great time’, she said – it wasn’ t until later that things became problematic. Earlier it had been‘ fun and harmless, and at no point was I reliant on anything.
‘ Looking back there’ s always been an addictive behaviour with anything that could change the way I feel about myself – because I didn’ t feel good about myself,’ she told delegates. This had started with food, followed by diet pills, amphetamines, and alcohol.‘ This was way before being in a pop band.’ Her insecurity became magnified by being in the public eye, however –‘ the press writing about me and people recognising me, and all those thoughts that I’ m not good enough, I’ m not pretty enough, and I can’ t sing as good as the other girls. Then I turned to other things to escape.’
Drink and drugs eventually became the only way she‘ felt normal’, she said, especially following a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery after discovering she had the BRCA2 gene variant.‘ Now I can see a real relation between having those operations, going into menopause very early, and having even more of a disconnect with myself.’
NO OFF-SWITCH She found out she had‘ no off switch’, she told delegates.‘ I thought that was normal, and everything was fine, but then came the hospital stays. I had cirrhosis of the liver, and my pancreas still doesn’ t work. I used think that if I ended up in hospital I’ d stop, but it didn’ t make me stop – I’ d leave the hospital and go straight to
24 • DRINK AND DRUGS NEWS • SEPTEMBER 2026 WWW. DRINKANDDRUGSNEWS. COM