Casualty star Amanda Mealing has broken her silence over her cocaine-fuelled car crash – blaming her erratic behaviour on the bitter break-up of her marriage after almost three decades.
The Casualty actress, 59, became engulfed in controversy and saw work dry up after she appeared in court for ploughing her Mini Cooper into another car at 10am following a late night drink and drug binge in January 2024.
Her lawyer told magistrates in mitigation that the actress, who also had roles in Four Weddings And A Funeral and Coronation Street, had been under stress because she was going through a divorce.
Amanda had been married to screen writer and film producer Richard Sainsbury since 1998 and they had two now adult sons – until their prolonged break up last year.
Now she has spoken publicly for the first time to reveal quite how bitter that divorce had been – and how still having to live with her husband for months after they broke up had made 2025 her ‘worst year ever’.
But the actress insists that now her ex-husband has finally moved out: ‘I don’t have a pot to p**s in now but I’m the happiest I’ve been.’
She said: ‘Last year was excruciatingly painful.
The actress (pictured in 2015), 59, became engulfed in controversy and saw work dry up after she appeared in court for ploughing her Mini Cooper into another car at 10am following a late night drink and drug binge in January 2024
Her lawyer told magistrates in mitigation that the actress, who also had roles in Four Weddings And A Funeral and Coronation Street, had been under stress because she was going through a divorce. Pictured: Her wrecked car at the crash site
Following the accident (pictured), she has now spoken publicly for the first time to reveal quite how bitter that divorce had been
Amanda (right) had been married to screen writer and film producer Richard Sainsbury (left) since 1998 and they had two now adult sons – until their prolonged break up last year
‘There were injustices and I was absolutely broken. His behaviour has been monstrous. He’s narcissistic.’
She told how after her car crash her husband had not been ‘not very supportive’ and although they were going through a divorce they had had to spend months still sharing the marital home ‘together but separately’.
She said that Mr Sainsbury finally left the family home in rural Lincolnshire just before Christmas and is now understood to be living in London.
The actor, who has two sons, 27, and, 24, went on: ‘I divorced him and our financial settlement is now coming up.’
She told how she and Richard jointly shared their property, which partly consists of a series of old brick barns which they started rebuilding six years ago, and which she will live in.
She said: ‘It is a lovely old building and has stood for 200 years and needs to be preserved, and hopefully will stand for another 200 years.’
Amanda told how to get away from her marriage troubles she too had fled to London at one point to stay with her close friend, the celebrity chef Andi Oliver.
Amanda is godmother to Andi’s daughter Miquita Oliver, a TV presenter who co-hosts a podcast with Lily Allen – and the pair have appeared together at public events.
The once troubled star started 2026 single and in a ‘positive frame of mind’.
Meanwhile two old friends have moved in to her home in a village near Spalding, to keep her company.
They also drive her to wherever needed after she was banned from the road until mid January 2027 following the crash which left a male nurse unconscious.
During the court hearing in March last year her solicitor revealed how she had turned to cocaine while going through a bitter divorce from her husband, plus dealing with the traumatic deaths of her father, her best friend and her dog.
The actor admitted driving with cocaine in her system and driving without due care and attention following the accident close to her home in January 2024.
It was also revealed at Boston Magistrates’ Court that since the crash, she had been diagnosed with blood cancer following a breast cancer battle decades earlier.
Amanda added: ‘I’m happy now, that’s important, and my health is getting better.’
Amanda – who played Connie Beauchamp in the BBC medical drama Casualty and appeared in Holby City – had taken cannabis the night before the smash and was high on the Class A drug while driving home from a friend’s house.
She posted a heartfelt New Year message (pictured) thanking friends for helping to save her from what she called an ‘excruciatingly painful’ year
The actress wrote: ‘Family can be given or chosen. We are fortunate if we have both.’ Pictured: A snap with friends shared alongside her message
Her car drifted across the road and hit an oncoming Skoda driven by theatre nurse Mark Le Sage.
He told how she had come out of nowhere, saying: ‘I was very lucky I was in such a substantial car. I very nearly took my motorbike out that day.
‘I just came around the corner and “bang,” it was right in front of me, and she hit the front corner of my car.’
The actor was banned from driving for 28 months, reduced to 22 months as she had already served a six-month interim ban.
She was also fined £485, and ordered to pay £400 costs and a surcharge of £194. She offered to pay at a rate of £100 a month, which was accepted by the court.
The star, who had tested positive for cocaine and benzoylecgonine following the incident, appeared at court under her married name Amanda Sainsbury.
Her solicitor Edward Lloyd told the hearing his client was ‘horrified’ about what happened and still couldn’t explain why her car veered across the road.
He said: ‘In terms of the offence, my client pleaded guilty to drug-driving at the very first opportunity.
‘It’s something she’s deeply ashamed of. She’s not somebody who takes drugs at all. Her brother died of a drugs overdose when he was 18, and she says herself that she should have known better.’
Amanda broke her long silence as she is bravely rebuilding her life and after posting a poignant New Year message on social media thanking her family and friends for their unwavering support.
For the first time she spoke publicly about the accident which she feared would ruin her career as an actor and director.
Addressing her court case, she said: ‘Look I’ve done wrong and I put my hands up.’
But she claims the accident wasn’t caused by the cocaine in her system but her suffering a severe hypoglycaemia episode, a dangerous diabetic emergency when her blood glucose level rapidly drops.
She said: ‘The level had dropped so low the paramedics thought I was having organ failure – the accident was not due to anything I had done the night before.’
She added: ‘But I pleaded guilty, I had no choice.’
At the time of the court hearing Amanda had already been offered a guest appearance in Channel 5 drama Good Ship Murder alongside stars Catherine Tyldesley and Shayne Ward but had not done the filming in Malta.
She feared the show would drop her because of her conviction, saying: ‘I spoke to the producers and told them I understood if they didn’t want me as I didn’t want to taint the show.
‘But they said they still wanted me, thankfully.’
Amanda is best known for playing Connie Beauchamp (pictured) in the BBC medical drama Casualty and appeared in Holby City
Since leaving Casualty in 2021, Amanda has been moving from acting into directing, including for an episode of the BBC TV series Waterloo Road. Pictured: Amanda, with Casualty co-star Charles Venn, who plays nurse Jacob Masters
She has posted a heartfelt New Year message thanking friends for helping to save her.
She wrote: ‘Family can be given or chosen. We are fortunate if we have both. There are so many I owe so much to this year – Andi Oliver, my sister, my soul saver.
‘We do because we do. Always without question. To what has been and is yet to come – and what some are lucky wasn’t.
‘Every day my life, my a**e , my eye sight, my sanity, my day, my dog and someone’ kneecaps. Thank you for saving (most of) these.
‘Cousin Nicola W, my solid sister. I will always thank you for turning up.’
Since leaving Casualty in 2021, Amanda has been moving from acting into directing, including for an episode of the BBC TV series Waterloo Road.
In 2002 Amanda was diagnosed with breast cancer, just 24 hours after giving birth to her second son. Her older son was three at the time.
She had been aware of a small lump in her breast when pregnant, but ignored it.
She previously said: ‘I definitely thought it could have been mastitis. But a large part of it was that ridiculous thing where I thought, “If I don’t go to the GP, they can’t tell me it’s breast cancer and therefore I can pretend it’s no”. But if I’d done something about it at the time, I may not have had to endure what I did. It’s ridiculous. I played with my life. I gambled.
‘It must have been three months. And it went from being a pea-sized lump to a mass. It was huge.
‘I remember seeing the mass when I had my ultrasound and I knew. It was like the air just went out of me. I got very angry at the cancer. I thought, “How dare you do this to me when my newborn baby is just hours old? I won’t let it happen”.’
She had a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Five years after she had completed her treatment she was diagnosed with PTSD.
Her sister in law and a close friend, both diagnosed with breast cancer at around the same time, did not survive.
Amanda has undergone therapy to cope with survivor’s guilt, which led to panic attacks and depression.
Amanda told the Daily Mail this week she is now looking forward to the future. She told how she now enjoyed being single and living alone, although she admitted: ‘At first it was a bit scary. But I love it now. I have my dogs and a few close friends who have helped so much.’
She said still having to live with her husband (pictured, the couple, in 2013) for months after they broke up made 2025 her ‘worst year ever’. But the actress insists that now he has finally moved out: ‘I don’t have a pot to p**s in now but I’m the happiest I’ve been’
Talented Amanda would welcome new TV roles.
She, half jokingly, said she would jump at the chance of being a celebrity guest on The Traitors, revealing: ‘A few of my friends say I’d be a great Traitor with my life experience.
‘I’d love to be a contestant, bring it on!’