WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT. During a drug-induced moment of distress, recovered addict Olivia Taylor set herself on fire, and her then-boyfriend’s reaction was chilling
A former addict has opened up about how her partner laughed as he filmed her on fire beneath a blazing duvet, after she reached a devastating low.
Olivia Taylor first tried alcohol at the age of 14 when drinking with friends at the local park. Having enjoyed a “normal middle-class upbringing”, everything changed when her parents divorced when she was 18.
The now 30-year-old found herself drinking vodka in the morning while attending sixth form college, sometimes chugging through up to a litre of vodka a day. As her addiction “spiralled”, Olivia experienced another dark turn when she welcomed her daughter at the age of 21.
Struggling with postnatal depression, Olivia’s drinking worsened. Although she checked into a rehabilitation centre a couple of years later, when she came out of it, she turned to abusing drugs on the street, including crack cocaine and heroin.
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Olivia, from Bridgnorth, Shropshire, shared: “I had a very normal middle-class upbringing, and I started drinking around 14-15, trying it at the park with friends. When my parents divorced at 18, it brought up a lot of mental health issues, and my addiction just spiralled very quickly out of control.
“The amount I was drinking, my body very quickly became dependent on it. I didn’t realise I had all this underlying trauma; all I wanted to do was escape. Everything started falling apart very quickly.
“I actually had a child at the age of 21. I had postnatal depression, which impacted my drinking even more. I managed to get away from a controlling relationship, but what I found then was that I was left on my own with my daughter in a small house.
“Thankfully, I had an amazing family, which helped take care of my daughter. They got me into a rehab centre at the age of 23, but unfortunately, because this rehab centre didn’t deal with the root cause and the mental side of things, it was just about getting you off the drink.
“I ended up spending time on the streets taking drugs after coming out of there because it made me feel even worse. I had never done hard drugs before; it was just a horrific time. I was drinking up to a litre of vodka a day. I would binge crack cocaine, but it was always the alcohol that was a daily thing. Crack and heroin would come in and out of my life if I had gotten myself around certain people.”
During one of her binges, Olivia set fire to a bed she was lying in, during an argument with her now ex-boyfriend. Instead of rushing to her aid, Olivia’s then partner filmed the horrifying moment on his phone, before sending what he viewed as “funny” footage to his friends.
Looking back on this distressing incident, Olivia, who is now clean, remembered: “At the time, I was with a guy that I’d met through recovery services when I was trying to get sober, and we relapsed together and had a very toxic relationship.
“We were using crack cocaine and drinking at the time. I set fire to the bed. I was just in a drug-induced mental state. He started filming it and was laughing at me while I’m on fire. It was all just a joke to him, but I was on fire. In the end, he put the fire out, after he filmed it, laughing at me and sent it to a couple of his friends.”
Now employed as an addiction coach, Olivia has shared the harrowing recording as a warning against drug use. Having “not touched” alcohol for two years, or done drugs for three years, Olivia now advocates for rehabilitation in the UK to focus on addicts’ mental health, in a way that addresses the “root cause” of the issue.
Olivia’s own turning point came when she was 27, when an alcohol support worker referred her to a different rehabilitation centre, during what she has described as a “divine” phone call.
According to Olivia: “Whether it was a divine intervention or miracle, somebody called me when I had shut myself away, not answering my phone and having a breakdown. This lady who was an alcohol support worker I used to work with said I found a rehab centre that will help not only with the drink but with the mental side of things.
“I went into that rehab centre for six months as an absolutely broken woman, and I came out a completely different person with intense therapy and behaviour therapy.”
After spending six months at the centre, the mum-of-one says she came out the other side a “completely different person”, having undergone intense therapy.
She continued: “I completely rebuilt my life to the point where I’m now trained in addiction coaching and have my own business.
“My daughter and I have a fantastic bond. She can’t remember that much, but she is so supportive of what I do. There needs to be more help out there to help with addiction and mental health at the same time.
“I’m a massive advocate for getting people off substances, but unless you get to the root cause, they’re just going to keep going back there.”
*Frank offers confidential advice about drugs and addiction (email frank@talktofrank.com, message 82111 or call 0300 123 6600) or the NHS has information about getting help.
Do you have a story to share? Email me at julia.banim@reachplc.com
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