Danielle Lloyd has bravely opened up about how she was subjected to "horrendous" violence when she was trapped in an abusive relationship as a teenager.
The mum-of-five said the experience has shaped her whole life and led to her going to counselling which enabled her to gain "a little bit of strength".
Danielle says sharing her story has helped not only her, but other people who have been victims of domestic abuse.
"It shaped my whole life massively, and it's made me the person who I am today.
"I went through hell and back as a teenager. I was smashed over the head with chairs, had plates thrown at me, I was spat at on a daily basis.
"It's obviously not just the physical abuse. What scarred me was the mental abuse as well," she said in an interview with GB News.
She said being the victim of mental abuse "can make you so dependent" on the abuser, causing a person to "lose all of yourself."
"You feel like you're nothing, basically all you can do is depend on them," she added.
Danielle said she had no friends when she was in an abusive relationship, adding that she was stopped from even seeing her family.
"It was just horrendous. It wasn't easy to leave. Eventually, I had to have counselling just to get a little bit of strength to say no," she said.
The reality star detailed some of the abuse and said she was punched in the face when she said she was leaving. The violent attack left her "knocked out" and with a fractured eye socket.
She said she is now in a much better place, having taken time to grow and heal.
"It isn’t until now that I feel so much stronger. And it's taken me a lot of time to heal, to learn self love, and actually respect myself enough to realise that I am my own person.
"Now I've found somebody that I can trust and we have a normal stable relationship because I actually know what that is."
She added: "Being able to talk openly about what happened to me has helped me massively and it's helped so many other people as well.
"I've had messages from women and men who have read my story or seen my story and they’ve said thank you so much for speaking out. They’ve said it’s actually helped me get out of my abusive relationship."
If you need help, call the National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247 - it's run by charity Refuge and the free number is in operation 24 hours a day.
