Alex Scott has been praised as an "inspiration" after revealing she had a secret relationship with teammate Kelly Smith as a young footballer.
The BBC sports presenter 37, spoke about why she decided to write about the romance in her memoir, when she appeared on The One Show this evening.
The book, called How (Not) To Be Strong also chronicles Alex's early childhood with her controlling father, who walked out on her family when she was just eight years old.
In her memoir, Alex says Kelly, who she played with at Arsenal and in the London Olympics, was her first love.
Speaking on The One Show to Alex Jones and JJ, Alex admitted she was a private person, but she decided to write about the relationship as she felt it would be cheating the readers not to, adding: "It was such a big part of my life. It's about me falling deeply in love."
She added that she learnt from the relationship, and carried those lessons into future romances.
Kelly, now 43, has since married management consultant DeAnna Dobosz, with whom she has two children.
Many viewers took to Twitter to praise Alex during her appearance on The One Show, with one person saying: " @ AlexScott you are brilliant #TheOneShow."
Another wrote: "Listening to @AlexScott on the #TheOneShow and she is an absolute hero, queen, role model, inspiration and a straight up wonderful human being."
One fan wrote: " @AlexScott omg you spoke beautifully and totally moved me. Amazing clever gorgeous lady."
A fifth person said: "Alex Scott be who you are, a beautiful woman who is an inspiration to many young people #theoneshow."
Alex also spoke about when she decided to have therapy, after Alex Jones referred to a moment in 2018 when "things came to a head".
The former sports star said: "I was in a really dark place, I remember walking past the mirror and looking at myself and I couldn't understand why I was uncontrollably just sobbing because from the outside everything's fine, I have got a job that I am super happy in.
"I should be celebrating and happy but I was just so sad."
Alex said it was then that she realised she needed help and went to therapy, revealing it had been her "saviour".
She said: "I was so scared to ask for help, I was hiding everything. Sometimes the headlines are that the trolls pushed me into therapy when actually like you guys both know, there has been a lot of things that have gone on in my life that I never dealt with or spoke about.
"I think the trolling and abuse I got from what I was doing was just the part that pushed me finally into therapy."
