Patsy Kensit on Being a Child Star, 90’s Icon & Living With Grief

August 27, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Patsy Kensit on Being a Child Star, 90’s Icon & Living With Grief

When Patsy Kensit was four years old, her mother's friend started a talent agency and asked if she could put Patsy on the books as a favor. A call came in: the director of The Great Gatsby needed five little girls to audition. Patsy went to Pinewood Studios, got picked for the part, and found herself being fitted for costumes designed by Ralph Lauren alongside Mia Farrow and Robert Redford. She remembers noticing even then that women on set got "very giggly" around Redford. Her mother was one of them. "I thought, why are they all getting so excited about this very tall blonde person?" Patsy says. "And then of course I understood it."

The Weight of a Childhood Spent Waiting

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What you'll learn

1 (00:00) **Prologue & Advertisements** - Episode opens with a series of ads for ESPN, American Airlines, and Tic Tac.
2 (01:20) **Introduction: Patsy Kensit Returns** - Davina introduces Patsy, summarizing her life as a child star, 90's icon, and her journey through grief and recovery.
3 (02:37) **Returning to Emmerdale** - Patsy discusses her surprise return to the soap opera, her nervousness, and the warm welcome from the cast and crew.
4 (06:37) **PTSD Diagnosis & The Root of Trauma** - Patsy reveals her PTSD diagnosis from three and a half years ago and connects her lifelong sadness to childhood trauma, not failed relationships.
5 (09:49) **The Impact of an Absent Father** - Patsy explains how her father's absence shaped her romantic choices, always choosing partners who had to travel for work.
6 (12:50) **Becoming a Child Star** - Patsy describes how her acting career began at age four as a favor for a friend of her mother's, leading to her role in *The Great Gatsby*.
7 (18:43) **Landing "Lethal Weapon 2"** - Patsy tells the story of how she auditioned for and landed the iconic role, including a full-circle moment with a casting director.

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Show Notes

What happens when the life everyone sees as extraordinary has been shaped by trauma, loss and the constant need to survive?

In this episode of Begin Again, Patsy Kensit joins Davina for an emotional and deeply personal conversation about childhood fame, love, grief, PTSD, motherhood, addiction, losing everything and finding the strength to start again.

Patsy looks back on an extraordinary life in the spotlight: beginning her career at just four years old in The Great Gatsby, becoming one of Britain’s most recognisable young stars, working alongside Hollywood icons and finding herself at the centre of 80s and 90s pop culture. She shares unforgettable stories from Lethal Weapon 2, meeting David Bowie and the surreal experiences that came with growing up famous.

But behind the success was a childhood filled with fear. Patsy opens up about being told at six years old that her mother could die, growing up with a father who was repeatedly in prison, and the secrets she carried to protect her family. She reveals how a PTSD diagnosis decades later finally helped her understand the sadness, depression and fear she had lived with for most of her life.

She also reflects honestly on love and marriage, including her relationship with Liam Gallagher and the pressure of becoming one half of one of the most famous couples of the 90s. Patsy explains how the relationship became “bigger than me”, why she felt she lost part of who she was, and how becoming a mother ultimately forced her life to change.

Now, after losing her home and everything she had financially, Patsy is rebuilding from scratch. As she returns to Emmerdale more than 20 years after first playing Sadie King, she reflects on survival, gratitude, getting older and why, after everything life has thrown at her, she still chooses to see each new day as another chance to begin again.

This is a conversation about fame, family, grief, identity, survival and what it really means to find yourself again.

🌟 Like, comment and subscribe for more honest conversations about purpose, resilience, love, loss and beginning again.

Follow Patsy Here:

https://www.instagram.com/patsykensit/?hl=en

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(00:00) Intro

(01:17) Returning to Emmerdale After Years Away

(05:17) A PTSD Diagnosis and the Childhood Fear That Never Left