Rex
Danielle Lloyd has told ITV's This Morning about spiralling into depression after the birth of her babies, fighting a drink problem and recovering from a blood clot in her breast.
The former Miss Great Britain told viewers that she walked out of her GP's surgery 'angry' when he first told her she could have postnatal depression.
The WAG had gone to him with heart palpitations and demanded to see a heart specialist just after the birth of her first son, Archie. Outraged Danielle told her doctor she had nothing to be depressed about, but now the mum of two - who gave birth to premature baby Harry last July - says she was totally in denial.
"Firstly when I went to the doctor I felt really embarrassed about going because obviously people look at my life an think how can she be depressed, she's got no money problems, she's got a nice life, she's got a nice husband, two healthy kids," Danielle told This Morning's hosts Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield.
"But the doctor said to me it's nothing to do with what's going on it your life, it's about what's going on in your brain and it's a chemical imbalance. So that made me feel so much better about the whole situation and I wasn't afraid of it anymore."
The model admits that after her first baby, Archie's birth, her footballer partner Jamie found it difficult to adjust to fatherhood, particularly as an operation on his back after an injury had left him unable to pick Archie up.
As the strain of parenthood began to take its toll on them both, they cancelled their wedding plans and went to counselling to try and get their relationship on track - yet just a day after starting the sessions, Danielle found out they were expecting their second child - just eight months after Archie's birth.
Baby Harry was born prematurely and with a hole in his heart, and weighing little over 4lbs.
Danielle says it was at this point, after Harry's birth, that her depression really kicked in again. She says she started drinking, initially just one glass of wine in an evening - something she felt she 'deserved' after looking after the children all day.
But the single glass soon escalated to one or two bottles a night, getting to the stage where 'at three o'clock in the afternoon' she was waiting for the clock to strike six so she could crack open a bottle.
When Jamie told her he thought she had a problem, she went back to the doctors - despite being embarrassed at admitting she was so low. Danielle explained that she thought people would criticise her for feeling down, and question 'what she had to be depressed about'.
When her doctor reassured her that PND was nothing to be embarrassed about and that it was a chemical imbalance in her brain and nothing to do with her lifestyle, she said she felt enormous relief. She was prescribed medication, and began to get her life back on track.
With her wedding planning back in full swing, Danielle decided to have her breasts lifted in January, to repair the strains two pregnancies had put on the boob job she'd had in 2004. But more drama was to follow, when in February, one of her new implants ruptured, and then a potentially lethal blood clot was found in her breast, leaving her dangerously ill in hospital.
Now, a few weeks on from surgery to remove the clot, Danielle says she is better and looking forward to the future - and her May wedding - despite all she has been through in the past year and a half. And as for those implants - for the moment, she is back to her natural AA cup size, and says that for now, she will not be having her boobs further boosted.
"I wish now I had waited until I was older," she said of having them first enhanced at 23, "I probably would have never had surgery."
Goodness - she has been through the mill this past year or so!
Do you think her speaking out about PND will help reassure other women that they CAN and should get help?
More on Parentdish: Mel C says becoming a mum cured her depression