The 45-year-old socialite, who died last Wednesday, also said she was frustrated people always thought of her as an “It Girl” funded by a trust fund.
Nearly 20 years after a stint in rehab for cocaine addiction, she said she still wanted “to make my family proud of me again – I’ve put them through a lot”.
Tara added that the event that changed her life was: “Doing the first I’m A Celebrity in 2002. “People saw I wasn’t a snob and I came second – it meant a lot.
“People still think I’m a party-crazy It Girl, but I’m 45 now and I live a much quieter life.
“And they think I live off a trust fund, but I’ve always earned my own money.”
Tara was found dead in her London home on Wednesday by her cleaner.
The socialite was first thrown into the spotlight in 1995 when she was photographed giving godfather Prince Charles a peck on the cheek while skiing in Klosters, Switzerland.
She became a regular face at the glitzy parties of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
But the drug-fuelled lifestyle took its toll, with Tara spending £35,000 on a stint in a rehab facility in Arizona in 1999.
She continued to struggle with her addictions. Last year she was diagnosed with a benign brain tumour and a rare autoimmune disease. And it seems death was never far from her mind.
She told the magazine: “I don’t like funerals where everyone has a good time and gets drunk, so I want a simple service with a positive eulogy and meaningful readings.”
It is feared that she had recently fallen into bad company and there are concerns that a mystery “older man” might have been getting her involved with drugs again.
Close friend Ivan Massow said she had become “dangerously underweight” in recent months, and had “frequently” fallen off the wagon over the years.
The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall paid tribute, saying they were “deeply saddened and our thoughts are so much with the family”.
Daily Express :: Life and Style Feed
