She was the ’90s “It” girl who partied with stars such as Elton John and Mick Jagger and shared precious moments with the late Princess Margaret, her “mother figure”, and whose son she was dating.
But society girl Susannah Constantine – who became a household name with the TV show What Not To Wear she co-presented with Trinny Woodall – has revealed that her perfect life of privilege became mired in alcoholism.
Constantine, 60, says: “I was an everything drinker but I was highly functioning on the outside. So many of my friends said, ‘What?’ when I told them I was an alcoholic in recovery. I was very good at covering it and continuing and putting my family first, but I was dying inside.
“During lockdown, I went public about being an alcoholic as I was reading about how many women were suffering, and the response from that was so overwhelming.”
The mum-of-three is now charting her journey in a memoir: Ready For Absolutely Nothing. Constantine – who in her 20s dated Viscount Linley (now 2nd Earl of Snowdon), before 28 years ago marrying entrepreneur Sten Bertelsen, says privilege came at a cost: “I was completely unprepared for anything other than getting married. I could have gone to university, but my father said to me, ‘Darling, don’t be silly, you’ll be much better off learning how to make a good beef Wellington’.
“I wasn’t independent, financially or mentally. I didn’t have my own opinions on anything. I was being brought up to become like my mother. But I’ve learned to be very resourceful, to push the envelope and do my own thing.”
Constantine – whose mother and grandmother were also alcoholics – says her own problem began when the TV partnership with Woodall ended. At her worst, she was drinking a bottle or two a night. Then, during a break in Cornwall with some cousins, she blacked out, fell over and wet herself. Filled with humiliation and shame, she knew she had to seek help. Her husband was supportive. She says: “He was there emotionally and physically. He was present all the time that I wasn’t. I’m so grateful to him. You look back and feel guilt and shame, but the only way you can make amends as an alcoholic is by staying sober.”
In recovery for nearly nine years, she adds: “I regret my drinking, but I look at the positives that have come out of it, how I conduct my life today and how I can give the tools of AA and what I’ve learned there to my children on how to deal with difficult things in life.”
Her other regret is not staying in touch with Princess Margaret who died in 2002 and with whom – as part of the royal party – she enjoyed holidays in Mustique and intimate dinners.
She remembers fondly: “Quite often, an evening with Princess Margaret meant dancing – invariably to her favourite song, Israelites by Desmond Dekker. At the end of a dinner party we’d move to the drawing room, find a little space on the carpet, and dance like you might if you were alone in your kitchen with the morning radio.”
Sghe adds: “I was very fond of her. I saw her as a mother figure. She was someone who, through her own courage, led her own life. I learned a lot from that, to have the courage of my convictions.
“One of my great regrets is not keeping in touch with her after I split up with David. But she gave a dinner for Sten and I when we got engaged. That was so generous spirited.”
Susannah Constantine – Ready For Absolutely Nothing, Penguin Michael Joseph, £20
Enjoy the convenience of having The Sunday Post delivered as a digital ePaper straight to your smartphone, tablet or computer.
Subscribe for only £5.49 a month and enjoy all the benefits of the printed paper as a digital replica.
Subscribe