West End<\/a> legend Dame Elaine Paige has revealed she \u201clived on sleeping pills\u201d for many years, revealing she kicked the habit during the pandemic. <\/p>\n The 78-year-old began her stage career in the 1960s and originated the role of Eva Per\u00f3n in Lord Andrew Webber\u2019s Evita in 1978, winning a Laurence Olivier award for best performance in a musical. <\/p>\n The role rocketed Paige into the spotlight and she collaborated with Lloyd Webber on a number of other occasions, also taking the lead as Grizabella in Cats and starring opposite Barbara Dickinson in Chess. <\/p>\n Speaking to The Sunday Times Magazine<\/a>, Paige said in a new interview: \u201cFor many years in the theatre<\/a> I lived on sleeping pills, otherwise you\u2019re wired until 2am after a show. <\/p>\n \u201cI called it my Judy Garland syndrome. They\u2019re dreadful things to become addicted to, which I was. But since the pandemic I\u2019ve managed to get off them and will not take one again.\u201d<\/p>\n Paige continued: \u201cI say to myself that even if I don\u2019t sleep well, I\u2019ll be fine the next day. I\u2019m not ready to take afternoon naps yet.\u201d <\/p>\n During her decades-spanning career, Paige has also released multiple albums and performed a number of concert tours, as well as appearing in television shows including BBC comedy Home From Home and the Alison Steadman-led drama Life. Since 2004, she has presented a weekly Radio 2 show, Elaine Paige on Sundays. <\/p>\n The singer was made a dame for services to music and charity in June 2025 and received a Special Award at the Oliviers back in April. <\/p>\n The prestigious accolade was presented by Lloyd Webber, who read a letter from the Queen<\/a> shortly before he handed Paige the prize at London\u2019s Royal Albert Hall. <\/p>\n The message read: “I was delighted to learn you were to receive this year\u2019s special award of the Oliviers 2026. I can think of no more fitting recipient.”<\/p>\n Camilla further praised Paige\u2019s “talent, commitment and generosity of spirit” which have made her a “truly defining figure in musical theatre\u201d, adding, “you have quite simply brought huge joy to untold numbers of people across the globe, and we are all in your debt.”<\/p>\n Accepting the award, Paige remarked: “Music and theatre have been the mainstay, really, well, the major force in my life and when I look back, I really can hardly believe the journey and the longevity of it all, to be honest.”<\/p>\n She candidly recalled the early challenges of her career, including “bit-parts and chorus lines and lots of rejection and long stretches when the phone doesn\u2019t ring”.<\/p>\n Offering words of wisdom to emerging talent, Paige urged: “I wanted to say to the next generation, may you find your people, your voice and your courage and make sure to ignore anyone that says it can\u2019t be done.”<\/p>\n If you or someone you know is suffering from drug addiction, you can seek confidential help and support 24-7 from Frank, by calling 0300 123 6600, texting 82111, sending an email<\/a> or visiting their website here<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the US, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration can be reached at 1-800-662-HELP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[268],"tags":[7976,434,3121,18,117,789,19,17,337,8505],"class_list":["post-642503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-award","tag-celebrities","tag-charity","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-horizontal","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music","tag-royals"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117113127099414024","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Paige](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2244472191...jpeg\")
Paige was awarded a damehood last year (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n![\"Evita](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3255042...jpeg\")
Evita rocketed Paige into the spotlight (Getty)<\/p>\n![\"Paige](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/SEI292959568.jpg\")
Paige with her Oliviers special award (Ian West\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n