Tara Palmer-Tomkinson , the original 'It' girl was found dead at her home in South Kensington, London yesterday. She had not been seen for 5 days and it was revealed that had been diagnosed with a non-malignant brain tumour in November and was worried that it could kill her.
Friend to royal family
During the 90's she was seen frequently socialising with the royal family on ski holidays and at society weddings. Her father Charles Palmer-Tomkinson has been a close friend of Prince Charles since the 1970's and Prince Charles is actually godfather to Tara.
Prince Charles has led the tributes to Tara stating that he is " deeply saddened" by her death.
Rise to fame
Tara rose to fame in the 1990's as the original 'It' girl along with other society girlfriends like Lady Victoria Hervey and Tamara Beckwith. They became together a group of wealthy, well connected ladies who were famous for being famous. And Tara made the most of it. She forged a career not only by appearing on chat shows, TV shows,gossip columns, being photographed with the right people but also for her charm, her feistiness and her slightly eccentric behaviour.
Her problems with drugs
It was during one of her TV appearances on ''I'm a Celebrity.....Get me out of here' in 2002 that she opened up about her drug problems and her addiction.
She admitted that at its' height she was spending up to £400 a day on cocaine.
It was this addiction that led to the saddest part of her life at the time when her septum collapsed through extensive drug use and had to be rebuilt at a cost of £6000. After this humiliating episode she became a target of paparrazzi for an entirely different reason.
The photos they wanted now were ones that would hit the front pages for the wrong reasons.
Her illnesses
She was initially diagnosed with a brain tumour in January 2016 and was suffering from an auto-immune disease which caused anaemia and joint pain and occurs in roughly only 1 in 50,000 people. If left untreated the disease can eat away at the lungs and kidneys.
She voiced her fears that she might die from the disease and hit out at critics who would inevitably blame her drug use.
Her legacy
She was born into a privileged lifestyle and lived that life to the full. She rubbed shoulders with the rich and famous and carved out a niche for herself as a fun-loving party girl who will be very fondly remembered by everyone who knew her. Messages on Twitter have been posted from dozens of celebrities paying tribute to the original 'It' girl.
