Camilla Cleese: John Cleese's Daughter

Camilla Cleese is the daughter of John Cleese. The 24-year-old is the daughter of the Monty Python comedian and his second wife, Barbara Trentham. Recently, she began speaking out about her struggles with drugs and alcohol which started when she was only 11.

After her parents divorced, Camilla Cleese moved to Chicago with her mother from London, and she started to deal with the trauma of separation by taking on a party lifestyle: "My new persona was the popular, wild-child, bad girl and my parents thought the answer was to send me to boarding school."

At 13, she graduated from drink to drugs such as weed, ecstasy, and cocaine. At the same time, she maintained a pristine public image, taking fifth place as one of the best equestrian showjumpers in the U.S. As she puts it, "I had blurry boundaries. I'd never really been taught right from wrong."

Although Camilla would move into her father's beach house in Santa Barbara, the closer attention didn't help.

By her second arrest in 2006, Camilla Cleese hit rock bottom: "I woke up the next morning on the cold cell floor, covered in my own blood and vomit, and wearing only my underwear. I was coming down off coke, shaking and crying." She was cut off financially and emotionally from her father, who was advised to try tough love to change her behavior.

In April 2007, Camilla enrolled in the renowned Sierra Tucson rehab clinic where she learned how to be sober: "I feel like I've learned so much in the past year or so. I know I'm going in the right direction now. I've realized you can have a laugh and be sober. Life is fun again."

Camilla Cleese Video

Camilla Cleese Photos

Send to a Friend!       Subscribe!      

       

Camilla Cleese: John Cleese's Daughter