Actress Emily Willis, 27, told her brother she would be out of contact for roughly a week while she “detoxed” at an upscale California treatment clinic.

More than two and a half years later, he says he has never heard from her again.

Nine days after entering Summit Malibu rehab to address escalating ketamine and alcohol addiction, Willis suffered a devastating heart attack that nearly killed her.

She remained in a coma for almost three weeks. By the time she woke, doctors had determined that the damage to her brain was irreversible. Willis is now completely paralyzed and requires constant care, relying on feeding and breathing tubes placed in her neck.

Although she can open her eyes, she is unable to communicate except through painful grunts and moans. It remains unclear how much she understands about her condition, though relatives have described occasional agitated spasms that may suggest a heartbreaking degree of awareness.

“Hey Bubs, I am about to check in. I might not have my phone. So, if you don’t hear from me in the next seven days, that’s why!! Then I get my phone back after detox,” Willis wrote in a January 2024 text to her brother, Michael Cooper.

“Thank you for letting me know Litz,” he replied, using a shortened version of Willis’s real name, Litzy Lara Bañuelos.

“I love you. You got this make sure you come out of this with a plan forward miss you tons proud you’re taking care of yourself call me when you can,” Michael wrote.

Michael, 24 and living in Utah, tears up as he reads those messages to the Daily Mail. They are the last reminder of his once irrepressible sister.

Willis is the small-screen seductress who broke into the Hollywood mainstream with a role in the 2023 sci-fi movie Divinity alongside actress Bella Thorne.

She earned accolades from gentleman’s magazine Penthouse and several million dollars from her work in the adult film industry.

But in early 2024, her ketamine use was spiraling. Legal records state that Willis had been taking five to six grams of ketamine each day in the months leading up to her rehab stint. Just one gram can tranquilize a horse.

Her treatment program at Summit Malibu cost a hefty $45,500 for 21 days.

Willis had been ‘excited’ to get better, her brother told the Daily Mail.

‘She said it had a lot of amenities, and a lot of celebrities went there and they make sure you come out well. She was strong going in and had a path forward,’ Michael said. ‘I had zero reason to think anything would go wrong.’

He is now haunted by what he imagines she endured at Summit Malibu, unable to contact loved ones while suffering from what a civil complaint alleges were night terrors, a severe urinary tract infection, and dehydration so severe that a nurse was unable to read her blood pressure.

All the while, staff at Summit Malibu allegedly assured Willis’s family that she was well, according to the complaint filed by her mother Yesenia Cooper.

Michael says his 5’6′ sister weighed 111 pounds before checking into the clinic. By the time of her cardiac arrest, she was down to 83 pounds, yet the complaint alleges she was not seen by a nutritionist or dietitian during her stay.

On day one, she had refused medications and was showing multiple withdrawal symptoms, according to notes from her medical chart as described in the complaint.

Three days in, she was described in those medical notes as ‘disheveled, frail, disoriented’, suffering ‘difficulty walking’ but refusing hospitalization.

After five days, another note allegedly described her as ‘anxious, distressed, barely eating, not showering or getting dressed and was experiencing aches, tremors, spasms and weakness.’

On the ninth day, the complaint says a nurse found her unresponsive and not breathing. Paramedics allegedly had to revive her for nearly an hour before detecting a pulse.

The ensuing weeks-long coma and brain damage caused by a lack of oxygen was irreversible, doctors say.

Summit Malibu stands accused in the complaint of admitting Willis ‘merely for profits’. The rehab denies all allegations.

A $3 million settlement was reached this July this year, which after legal fees and other obligations has left a trust of around $1.25 million for Willis’s ongoing care. Over $120,000 has also been raised on a GoFundMe.

Summit’s parent company Malibu Lighthouse Treatment Centers does not admit to any liability or wrongdoing in the settlement.

Willis’s own lawyer acknowledged in court filings that the case ‘was no slam dunk’ and that no one knows exactly what happened before his client stopped breathing.

Her mother Yesenia Cooper – who has since moved her daughter to Mexico, where she receives 24/7 care from family at the home of a relative – believes Willis remains aware of her condition even in semi-consciousness, sometimes screaming and kicking out of frustration.

Willis was born in Mexico, where Yesenia also grew up.

Willis’s biological father wasn’t in the picture. And as Michael previously told the Daily Mail, Yesenia was caring for her young daughter alone when she met his father, Michael Cooper Sr, an American visiting Mexico.

Though he never adopted Willis, he raised her as his own along with Michael Jr, who was born when his half-sister was three.

The family moved in 2005 to Utah, where they were all able to secure US citizenship.

Willis left home at 17 and soon moved to Los Angeles. She entered the adult film industry and by 2022, she had accrued some 450,000 likes on OnlyFans.

Michael and his sister remained close, and had discussed plans for Willis to quit the adult film industry, go to college and study psychology.

‘We’d talk to her, try to help her, urging her to move out of Hollywood and those influences and come closer to us,’ he said.

But Willis stayed in LA – and catastrophe soon followed.

Nicholas Brandram, a 44-year-old private banker who was arrested on suspicion of being the so-called Putney Pusher, has been found dead.

Mr Brandram, a descendant of Queen Victoria, was detained at his home in Chiswick, west London, on June 15 on suspicion of attempted grievous bodily harm.

The arrest related to the widely reported incident of May 5, 2017, in which a jogger pushed a female pedestrian into the path of a double-decker bus on Putney Bridge. The woman was spared only by the rapid reaction of the bus driver.

Police searched Mr Brandram’s £1.4million home before rearresting him on suspicion of possessing Class A and Class B drugs, believed to be cocaine and cannabis.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘At 7.15pm on Tuesday, September 15 officers and the London Ambulance Service attended an address in Chiswick, Hounslow after a man was found unresponsive inside a property.

‘Sadly, a 44-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. His next-of-kin have been informed. At this time his death is being treated as unexpected, but is not believed to be suspicious. A file will be prepared for the coroner in due course.’

Mr Brandram was a grandson of Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark, Queen Victoria’s last female descendant. He had been a director at HSBC’s private bank before being suspended following his arrest.

Legal restrictions meant his name was not disclosed when he was arrested, although his identity prompted considerable online speculation. He can now be identified following his death.

Mr Brandram was a decorated former British Army captain who served with the Scots Guards in Iraq, Bosnia and Afghanistan. A philosophy and psychology graduate of Newcastle University, he received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 in recognition of his military service.

The following year, he appeared at City of London Magistrates’ Court after a collision with a female cyclist at Hyde Park Corner on March 6.

Mr Brandram crashed his 1948 Harley-Davidson into the woman and then drove off without leaving his details or checking if she was hurt, the court heard. 

Representing himself, he told magistrates: ‘I ride a bicycle myself and realise the risks.

‘I’m an upstanding member of society and have recently resigned as a member of the British Army and have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

‘I have a very loud bike so it’s not impossible I collided with her without me realising it. At the same time with such a big bike I don’t know how I didn’t feel the collision.’

He pleaded guilty to a count each of driving without due care and attention and of failing to stop after a road accident. 

He received five penalty points, a £200 fine and was told to pay £105 compensation. Mr Brandram thanked magistrates and said he would pay the fine immediately. 

The Putney Pusher incident took place during rush hour on May 5, 2017 at about 7.40am.

A woman was walking southwards on Putney Bridge when the jogger approached her from the opposite direction.

There was plenty of room on the footpath for him to run around her safely, but instead he shoved her onto the road – directly in the path of an incoming 430 bus going at 12mph.

Thanks to the rapid reactions of the driver, Oliver Salbris, the bus missed the 33-year-old victim’s head by inches, and she survived largely physically unscathed. 

The jogger continued his run across Putney Bridge without so much as a backward glance.

After the vehicle stopped, passers-by rushed to help the shaken woman – who has never been publicly identified.

The jogger returned in the opposite direction about 15 minutes later, passing the victim again while she was still being assisted on the bridge. He ignored her calls to stop. 

In April, Mr Salbris told the Mail that he would never forget what he saw.

‘I always think about the case and I still drive over Putney Bridge several times a day,’ he said.

‘Whenever I’m on the bridge, I look very carefully at the pedestrians on the pavement, I just can’t help it. I wouldn’t say it haunts me, but it’s not something I can easily forget.

‘I’m glad my reactions were quick on that day, or it would have ended very differently, both for me and the woman who was pushed. Her head was only a few centimetres from the bus and the wheel, even after I swerved to avoid her.’

At the time of the original appeal, the suspect was described as a white man in his early to mid-30s, with a stocky build and short brown hair. He was wearing a grey T-shirt and dark blue shorts.

Metropolitan Police detectives interviewed 50 men and arrested three suspects, including an American investment banker – who was able to prove ‘irrefutably’ that he was in the US at the time.

No suspect was ever charged, and the investigation was closed in 2018 before new information led to Mr Brandram’s arrest. 

Earlier this month, he was released under investigation to give police time to complete outstanding enquiries. 

The Met said at the time: ‘On Monday, June 15, a 44-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted grievous bodily harm. 

‘The arrest relates to an incident on May 5, 2017, where a woman was pushed into the path of a bus on Putney Bridge in Putney.

‘Once in police custody, he was also arrested on suspicion of possession of Class A and Class B drugs.

‘He has since been released under investigation while enquiries continue.’

Mr Brandram’s late father, City executive Paul Brandram, was the only child of Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark and Major Richard Campbell Andrew Brandram, who served with the British Army during the Second World War.

Princess Katherine was Queen Victoria’s great-granddaughter, a first cousin of Prince Philip, and the daughter of King Constantine I, who ruled Greece between 1913 and 1922.

Queen Sofia of Spain, Paul Brandram’s cousin, told of her ‘great sadness’ after his death in 2020 at the age of 72. 

Like his father, Nicholas has had a successful career in the City, working at leading stockbrokers Killik & Co and Israeli lender Bank Leumi before moving to HSBC, where he managed the assets of wealthy individuals.

He was nominated Private Banker of the Year for 2026. 

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At the end of July, I shared a holiday photograph of myself on social media — and it soon found its way into the newspapers.

In the picture, I am grinning in an old blue swimsuit — with good reason, having lost more than a stone.

My caption read: ‘This is a weight loss drug-free body. It’s still got shoulder-splitting G cups. Still has a muffin top. Still has crepey skin and is about as toned as a water bed.’ 

Still, there was a noticeable difference. I was slimmer, less bloated and looked happier — all because I stopped eating sugar in February this year. It is no overstatement to say the decision transformed my life.

Running has always helped me stay fit, yet by last winter I was approaching 11st 7lb. I was larger than I wanted to be, but the bigger concern was how I felt mentally: constantly foggy, drained of energy and low in mood.

I have not touched alcohol for 14 years, though addiction can take many forms. For me, it was chocolate — particularly nutty milk chocolate. One square, or even one bar, was never enough; I would eat an entire bar and sometimes another, curled up in the evening with tea, a box set and chocolate.

It might sound harmless, but I would break each bar into small pieces to disguise how much I was eating. The secrecy and ritual told me it had become another addiction. I have always been an all-or-nothing person.

My fixation with sugar also made every part of life feel like an effort. Looking back, I can see that I was maintaining an exhausting performance, trying to convince everyone that my physical and mental health were fine. The reality was very different.

So, in February, I went to Portugal to stay with an old friend Lulu, to take some time out and do some writing. To be honest, she staged a bit of an intervention. An amazing Brazilian nutritionist friend had been running a retreat the previous week, and Lulu asked her to stay on a few extra days because she knew I wasn’t in a good place.

I was told in no uncertain terms that I was going on a detox – which included no sugar. My body was apparently in a state of inflammation. ‘Your eyes, your tongue, your gut… Oh my God!’ exclaimed the nutritionist when she looked at me.

I looked in the mirror and saw myself as she saw me: dull eyes shot through with tiredness, a coated tongue, a grey tinge to my skin, and that out-of-control muffin top.

She attributed it all to ultra-processed foods, which I don’t eat much of, and sugar, which of course I did.

I was effectively forced into eating barely a thing for seven days! I had lemon and bicarbonate of soda in the morning, which went through me like an upside-down volcano, green juice for breakfast, a couple of leaves at lunchtime, and nothing till dinner – which was soup. We walked a lot to take my mind off it.

When I got home, I weighed myself, and I’d lost five pounds, which was a huge incentive not to leap back into chocolate eating.

But giving up sugar was really difficult to do – harder than ditching alcohol. My day was punctuated around treats, so I had to reframe my eating, and find new ways to reward myself. I felt crabby and fed up, and may have snapped at my family a couple of times!

Still, I was very determined and after more than six months of barely touching the stuff, I sleep better and am far happier. I am still generally anxious, but about 40 per cent less so.

The biggest difference is physical. My weight, my energy, and my skin (on my face and body) is less dry and saggy, and my morning eye bags are less evident. 

That picture from July shows how far I’ve come. My three grown-up kids didn’t notice, but my husband Sten did – mentioning both my increased confidence and my looks, commenting on what I wore for the first time in years. I’m 64, and this year I’ve had more compliments than ever before in my life. It’s weight loss, yes, but it’s also about happiness.

Here are my other tips for being healthy, happy and slim at 64.

Blasting the years with red light

I’ve only recently accepted my age. I’ve got over that hump where a part of me wanted to be noticed in some way – that was up to my mid-fifties. I don’t feel that anymore, and I don’t mind that I’m invisible. Ageing is a privilege.

However, like every woman, I have a certain level of vanity, and more often than not I try to avoid looking at myself in the mirror, because I think to myself that there’s so much work to be done and I can’t be bothered! 

I don’t have Botox, but I do love the CurrentBody Red Light Therapy Face Mask (£499.99, currentbody.com). Genuinely, I’m such a sceptic about beauty gadgets, but this is one of the few things I really believe in for reducing wrinkles and improving skin plumpness. I try to use it for around ten minutes three or more times a week.

Making a face

I don’t wear make-up every day; just a bit of Trinny London BFF All Day (£42, trinnylondon.com) if I’m mooching about at home, and maybe her Just A Touch Concealer (£29). I love the PrimeLash mascara by US brand Prime Prometics (£8.58, amazon.co.uk). It’s great for lash thickening and it’s vegan and cruelty-free. 

I know you’re supposed to wear SPF every day, but I only wear it on holiday. Sten introduced me to Altruist sunscreen (£4.75, amazon.co.uk), which I know a lot of beauty experts swear by.

I also wear a vitamin C serum day and night to brighten and protect my skin.

Body-wise, Trinny told me about this amazing body lotion called Aestura Atobarrier365 Ceramide Lotion (£26, sephora.co.uk) – it’s transformed my skin, which is far less dry.

I’ll tell you what I hate – products designed for over-50s. So patronising.

Take a nap if you need to

We need to be able to say: ’Do you know what, if I want to have a sleep in the afternoon I’m going to.’

I’m not great at this, admittedly, and tend to try to hide the fact I’m having a rest.

Everything around us is moving at such a pace that if you stand still for a second, you stand out like a sore thumb. People don’t notice you doing all the housework, the cooking and writing a book. But they notice a sleep in the afternoon.

I get around this by looking as though I’m on my laptop, but in fact I’ll be watching a box set on Netflix.

I still find my husband handsome

If you’ve been a parent, your children have been the priority. To some extent you forget that you’re married. When the children leave home, you’re suddenly meeting this person almost as though it’s the first time, and you’ve no idea how they’ve evolved emotionally.

I think to some extent it’s down to luck whether you still have the chemistry that initially drew you to them. With Sten, who’s 62 now, I’m lucky – he’s incredibly handsome. 

It wasn’t like falling in love all over again, but it was easy to say let’s move on, let’s get to the next stage. It’s about having common interests, complementing each other, and recognising and accepting each other’s weaknesses. For example, if he gives me a spreadsheet to fill in, he knows it won’t happen.

Exercise

I know everyone talks about weights and strength training, and I’m sure the science is there, but I think you have to find your own way. And there’s no magic wand – you have to put in the work, which is incredibly annoying.

I’ve run for years and try to do around 25 miles a week, even though it isn’t as easy as it used to be. I’m sure people look at me and they say, ‘Why is she literally lolloping along?’ But it’s good enough for me. I used to take a bag of buttermint sweets in a bumbag to eat on the way round, but I’ve stopped that!

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I used to be a huge wild swimming fan, but I haven’t been for ages, and the main reason is because the water quality is so poor. I do have a cold water therapy barrel in my back garden, though, and I’m going to start leaping in and out of that again – possibly every day. 

I still do breathing exercises recommended by the wellness guru Wim Hof, which is like meditation. They make a huge difference to stress and energy levels.

Spend time with the young

I love to spend time with young people and hear their opinions – they have such strong ones and more courage than I ever did at that age. That makes me reassured for the future. 

I don’t inform myself about new developments in tech like AI – I just get my kids, now aged 26, 23 and 21, to explain it.

But you know what? They’ve spent their lives coming to me and asking things, and now the shoe’s on the other foot. They love it. They feel like they’re the boss.

Ditch FOMO

I would rather put a rock around my neck and walk into a lake than go to a big party. Sten and I are very antisocial.

But I do have lots of good friends, and I FaceTime one in particular every day, wherever we are in the world. He’s 80, and we acted as each other’s sponsors a little whilst in recovery from alcohol addiction.

What To Wear

I still follow the old diktats about dressing for your shape from the What Not To Wear shows that Trinny and I had such fun doing.

If you have big boobs, which I do, wear a lower top. That was one of our rules, but they do change a little with age. These days, I don’t go for overt cleavage display too often, and I don’t wear anything too tight either. 

I’m conscious of dressing differently, in an age-flattering way, and I’m not aiming to be sexy. Personally, I feel I look older if I try and dress younger.

I don’t have many clothes, and I do sometimes wear the same outfit four days in a row (except for pants!), but I never just grab the first thing that falls out of the wardrobe. I err towards more masculine clothes; flared trousers with a sweater or a plain white T-shirt in the summer.

Even if I’m working at home, I feel I have a responsibility to the work I’m doing as an author to look stylish. It also helps focus me and it’s respecting my job. I couldn’t work in pyjamas.

Shape. Where?

Trinny and I were virtually defined by our love of shapewear – what we called ‘magic pants’ – back in the early 2000s.

I don’t need to lose weight anymore, and I hadn’t actually worn shapewear for a very long time, until I partnered with Shapermint this summer and reignited my love affair with it. Together we’ve created a What To Wear edit of five foundational pieces, which we have just launched.

It’s not about looking smaller but about looking more toned. I see it as being akin to putting make-up on your face – you’re not inherently changing it, but it’s making it look the best it can.

The cami, shorts and leggings (from £26.99, shapermint.com) give me a wonderful, smooth outline and also make me feel more comfortable in lighter, silky fabrics. I honestly feel that it’s working with my body, not against it.

Food for thought

I always have a savoury breakfast. On a good day, I’ll have broccoli with homemade salad dressing, and protein in the form of cottage cheese or tinned tuna, as well as a coffee that’s so strong you could stand a spoon up in it with a little natural sweetness from Rude Health Organic Coconut Milk. If I get a bit hungry during the morning I might have some blueberries.

At lunchtime I chuck whatever veg is in the fridge into my Vitamix – it’s so powerful you could juice a Mini Cooper. At teatime, I have a Peter’s Yard Sourdough crispbread with peanut butter, and a small packet of Twiglets if I’ve been for a run.

We always eat dinner as a family when the kids are home – and it’s always homemade and protein-rich. Sten and I go out so rarely that it’s a treat to have a meal cooked by someone else, and I’ll eat pretty much anything… except pudding!

I still have treats, but they’re more considered – a couple of squares of 80 per cent dark chocolate (amazingly the amount hasn’t crept up), sugar-free chewing gum or a couple of dates.

Don’t go overboard on hair treatments

My thick blonde hair has always been great. I don’t go to a fancy London salon, but to a little place in my Sussex village called Aaron Russell which is a walk from my house. They are all so good that any one of them can do my cut and colour. I have a blow-dry once every two weeks, but otherwise I leave it alone. 

I find Sam McKnight products are amazing, such as the Hair by Sam McKnight Rich Cleanse Nourishing Shampoo and Conditioner (£50, sammcknight.com), or Redken’s new Acidic Bonding range (from £12.95, boots.com) is fantastic for repairing damaged hair.

My girls use that too. Esme is evangelical about it, and her hair is incredible. Whenever I buy anything beauty-related, I have to keep them in mind because they steal my stuff.

You don’t have to take HRT

I had a chat with Trinny and a friend over supper a few weeks ago and I said that I didn’t take HRT. They were so horrified it was like I’d told them I had a terminal illness and was going to die in a few days’ time.

It sometimes feels as though menopause has become an insult for the young to chuck at their mothers. ‘Oh my god, you’re so menopausal!’

Honestly, I didn’t sail through menopause very well mentally, but I didn’t have physical symptoms. There’s no question that menopausal women really suffer, but I slightly ignored the whole noise around the subject because it didn’t sound as though it applied to me. 

Unfortunately, I think it’s put the fear of God into the younger generation. We need more balance in the messaging and more education for everyone.

I love some supplements….

I take magnesium for sleep, and saffron and turmeric for their anti-inflammatory properties. I like Naked Pharmacy products – you can book a call with a pharmacist if you’ve got questions. They don’t contain synthetic ingredients like fillers and binders.

Collagen-wise I’m currently trying out Elavate (from £39, elavate.com) – just a scoop in the morning. Perhaps that’s why my joints hurt less.

Ignore the ageist trolls

If someone hurts me, I become a pathetic ball of fear and anxiety. But I’ve had very little online trolling thankfully – only about five unkind comments on Instagram over the years. 

Last week someone commented on my looks, and I just leant into it and said, ‘shut your hole’. Lots of my followers stuck up for me.

When I was doing Strictly, I attracted lots of unkind attention, but that was all justified, because I was appalling. So, I just agreed with all the comments, and that shut them all up!

Have the confidence to stop

However grown-up we are, we’re still insecure and need to feel valued. For women, I think the easiest, least complicated way to achieve this is to be busy, to help others and to make yourself more indispensable than ever. I am absolutely guilty of that.

‘Don’t worry,’ I say. ‘I’ll do it, I’ll do it.’ And then I feel resentful and stop. But on the whole, I’m contented with my body and mind, my relationships and my work, and you can’t ask for much more than that!

As told to Alice Smellie

Susannah Constantine has created a new What To Wear edit with shapewear brand Shapermint, shapermint.com