Katie Piper recalled the moment her life changed forever on Tuesday's edition of Loose Women.
In a special segment on the ITV show, the presenter looked back on her happy childhood, her teenage rebellious years and the moment that simultaneously changed her life and found her purpose at 24 years old.
The campaigner looked back on some of the highs and lows from her journey to becoming a household name, and recalled being asked to leave shops and being shouted at on the streets shortly after she was horrifically attacked.
In March 2008, the Loose Women presenter was viscously attacked with acid at the age of 24 by her ex-boyfriend and an accomplice, causing major damage to her face and blindness in one eye.
Katie would go on to undergo pioneering surgery to restore her face and vision after the horrifying attack, and inspire a nation with her bravery when she released the 2009 Channel 4 documentary, Katie: My Beautiful Face.
During the segment dubbed 'Life Before Loose', Katie reflected on the documentary she did where she spoke about what had happened to her and explained: "How people reacted was my motivation to do the documentary because initially I looked very different to how I sit here today, I wore a face mask for two years, I had a shaved head, very purple/red appearance…
"People reacted to asking me to leave shops, shouting at me in the street, I wasn’t famous, I wasn’t known, people didn’t understand why I wore a mask…I wanted to explain people why I looked this way, educate people, relieve myself of that isolation]...I’m not contagious, I’ve not going something which means I need to be rejected from society."
Reflecting on her life shortly after the attack, Katie explained how it sometimes feels like she's living two separate lives but declared that trauma "needn’t be a life sentence."
Speaking to her fellow Loose Women panelists, Katie said: "When I look back on it and reflect, it does feel like two separate lives. I’m 38, but I sort of feel in my 70s or 80s because what’s happened to me, condensed in such a short period doesn’t happen to some people in their whole lifetime.
"In some ways you can take that as a positive - life experiences enrich us, they build our character and we can go onto use that in our future, but in other ways it was a lot. It took its toll on me mentally and physically. Some of the physical changes are still ongoing in my medical journey."
She added: "Nobody prepares for that.. It was like my life was turned upside down in a matter of seconds. Lots of different things happen to people and what’s happened to me is obviously more visual, but we all experience trauma in varying degrees. Trauma’s a fact of life, but it needn’t be a life sentence."
Viewers watching at home were moved by Katie's story and many took to social media to praise the inspiring mum-of-two for sharing her experience with others.
"The world needs more Katie Piper’s. Such a lovely inspirational person. She never gave up when I’m sure many of us would struggle to carry on. #LooseWomen," one viewer wrote on Twitter after the moving segment aired.
"Katie Piper is an inspiration. She's incredibly brave and incredibly altruistic. #LooseWomen," another tweeted, with a third adding: "Katie Piper been through all of this and is still such a lovely person when she could have easily become bitter, she’s a strong inspirational woman #LooseWomen."
*Loose Women airs weekdays at 12.30pm on ITV and ITV Hub
