Cocaine caused my tantrums, says supermodel Campbell

She reluctantly admitted her cocaine addiction to the High Court and Naomi Campbell has now revealed on television that her drug habit caused her temper tantrums.

The British supermodel told an American interviewer she recognised her use of cocaine could have killed her if it had continued unchecked.

Three years ago, Ms Campbell was forced to admit in the High Court in London that she had used illegal drugs. She was trying to establish a privacy law after the Daily Mirror photographed her leaving a Narcotics Anonymous meeting.

But the 34-year-old said on ABC's Primetime Live last night that her addiction had driven her "to the bottom of the barrel". Campbell said she first tried cocaine at 24. "I was living the life of travelling the world and having people just give you anything. I thought 'OK, I'm a rock star too'. What is very scary about cocaine is that you start to feel too confident and you start to fell indispensable, although none of us is indispensable. You become short-tempered. Your little charm goes."

The model and recovering addict said she recognised her abuse of the drug had had to stop. She said: "I was very very low to the bottom of the barrel because of that drug. Something would have happened. Some self-destructive thing." But she added: "I never did drugs before I would go on the runway."

During the 2002 court case, in which she eventually won a ruling that her confidentiality had been breached by the Mirror, Campbell confirmed that a series of incidents, including an assault on one of her assistants, meant she was known for "notorious behaviour" and had a "reputation for tantrums".

She added in a witness statement: "I have admitted using illegal drugs and some years ago I recognised that I had a problem. I knew that it was wrong and had damaged me and I decided to try to sort myself out."