I turned up to shoot with broken bones after exes’ abuse and suffered miscarriage live on air, reveals Lisa Snowdon

Lisa Snowdon has bravely spoken out about her experiences of domestic abuse

I turned up to shoot with broken bones after exes’ abuse and suffered miscarriage live on air, reveals Lisa Snowdon

PRESENTER Lisa Snowdon has revealed that two of her ex-lovers were so violent that one left her with life-long injuries and another assaulted her so badly it contributed to her suffering a miscarriage live on air.

Lisa says another boyfriend was so unsupportive when she got pregnant that she made the difficult decision to terminate the baby and still feels “devastated” about her decision.

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Lisa Snowdon has bravely spoken out about her experiences of domestic abuseCredit: Rex

The 51-year-old was one of Britain’s top models earning £100,000 a day, but she would turn up to photo shoots with broken bones and bruises after being attacked so badly she thought she was going to die.

Lisa, who is still in constant pain from her injuries, says: “I admit it now, I hope it can save the life of someone who is the victim of an abuser.

“If any of my family, my young and innocent nieces or nephews, ever experienced this kind of evil, I don’t think I could be held responsible for what I would do to their abuser.

“I know it’s not really what I should say, but I still have a lot of anger in me, and I think some regret.”

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It is in her brave new book “Just Getting Started” that she shares her own life struggle – around fertility to pregnancy and menopause – to help others.

Lisa was just 19 and breaking into the modeling world when her boyfriend, who was years her senior but lied to her about his age, assaulted her so badly that he broke her arm.

She writes: “He chased me and kicked me, and to protect myself from another one of his kicks, I used my arm to cover my back.

“He kicked my arm with all his strength, and I heard a crack. Sure enough, the damage was done and my arm was in a cast for six weeks or so.

Lisa was one of Britain's top models and appeared ten times in FHM's 100 Sexiest Women

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Lisa was one of Britain’s top models and appeared ten times in FHM’s 100 Sexiest Women

“The position of my arm being twisted around my back and broken caused me so much pain, and it still does. Over the years I developed a condition called scoliosis, curvature of the spine, which can occur after impact trauma.

“In my case, my left shoulder and scapula are now pulling forward as a result of the injury, thus bending my spine to the left.

“He also headbutted me one day, knocked me unconscious, cleaned me up and left me with a big black eye. How I didn’t die in the apartment, I’ll never know.

“I still feel such a great sense of anger at how anyone could do this to a young girl. I’m in tears, but mostly I feel sad, for my younger self – so lost, scared and alone.

“I worked as a model in those days and would turn up to work, arm in plaster, with bruises and a black eye, and had to come up with the most elaborate excuses to protect him.”

‘I thought I was going to die’

This Morning presenter and menopause campaigner Lisa has had an amazing career.

She was only 19 when she was first danced in a London club.

She graced the cover of Vogue and appeared ten times in FHM’s 100 Sexiest Women before landing jobs on MTV, Britain’s Next Top Model and then co-hosting Capital London’s Breakfast Show.

She has appeared on Strictly and I’m A Celeb and won Celebrity MasterChef last year. But behind closed doors her life was in chaos.

She says it started as “mental abuse” with “gaslighting” that continued for years.

Despite being a popular model, she had “no self-worth” and was riddled with “insecurities”.

Lisa back in 1995 on a photo shoot in Mauritius

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Lisa back in 1995 on a photo shoot in MauritiusCredit: Rex

And as her career flourished and she moved from a small, independent modeling agency to a larger, more established one, her partner’s temper “turned worse”.

He played “mind games” that she didn’t understand and he cheated on her while she was on shoots and gave her a sexually transmitted disease.

Every time she tried to leave he attacked her again.

She said: “He held me against a wall, both his hands around my throat, my feet hanging off the ground and squeezed my neck and strangled me until I thought I was going to die.

“It happened so many times that I lost count. I never told a soul.

“Emotionally I was broken. I felt unworthy of love, but he would also be so upset after all his angry violent outbursts, and so remorseful, that I would have to comfort him and tell him it was going to be okay. I mean, how fucked up is that?”

Although Lisa eventually managed to get away from that situation, she suffered at the hands of another “loser boyfriend” when she was in her late 20s.

She became pregnant, but when he showed no interest, she had an abortion – and ended the relationship.

“It truly broke my heart that he was so unconcerned about how I was,” she writes.

“I knew at that moment that I didn’t want to bring a child into this world and one day I have to explain to them why I wasn’t with their father and what kind of man he was.”

Lisa Snowdon dancing with Brendan Cole on Strictly Come Dancing in 2008

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Lisa Snowdon dancing with Brendan Cole on Strictly Come Dancing in 2008Credit: Handout

On-air miscarriage

But Lisa wanted another baby. She even considered having one of her own after hearing about a sperm bank in Los Angeles where donors had Einstein-level IQs.

But at 41, her gynecologist ran tests that showed her chance of conceiving naturally was only three percent.

She writes: “I felt as if I had been punched in the stomach.”

Lisa “parked the baby thing” and concentrated on her career at Capital, but continued to date “inappropriate” men.

But “six to eight months later” she found out she was pregnant.

How can you get help?

Women’s Aid has this advice for victims and their families:

  • Always keep your phone nearby.
  • Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
  • If you are in danger, call 999.
  • Familiarize yourself with the Silent Solution, report abuse without talking on the phone, call “55” instead.
  • Always keep some money with you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
  • If you suspect that your partner is going to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of ​​the house – for example, where there is an exit and access to a telephone.
  • Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you can get trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you can be locked in a closet or other small space.

If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – [email protected] .uk.

Women’s aid provided a live chat service – available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.

You can also call the free 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.

Although it was a “devastating” relationship, she was excited about becoming a mum.

She said: “Even though the relationship wasn’t perfect, I saw it as a sign from the universe – maybe from God – that I was forgiven and I was finally going to have a baby. I was going to be a mom.”

But scans showed the baby was not growing as it should and the heartbeat was “faint”.

Then her partner violently attacked her and hours later, while presenting live on air, she began to miscarry.

She writes: “I rushed to the bathroom in a panic. I did not know what to do. We had just gone on the air, and I knew I had to keep working.

“I dug deep and tried to park the fear I felt in the pit of my stomach and prayed that my baby would be okay.

“As soon as the show was over and we were off the air, I rushed to the hospital.

“When I arrived, my worst fears were confirmed – the scan showed that the heartbeat had stopped. My baby is dead.

Lisa transitioned from the world of modeling to become a TV and radio presenter

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Lisa transitioned from the world of modeling to become a TV and radio presenterCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

“To say I was devastated was an understatement; I was sad, inconsolable.

“I’m convinced that the reason for my miscarriage was yes, partly because of the egg quality, but also because my partner attacked me in the street the night before, shook me violently and threw me up against some metal shop front shutters. “

Lisa still thinks about the pregnancy she ended.

She writes: “I think about that baby, even more so now that I can’t have children and left it too late to start a family.

“In my darkest moments, I blame myself for choosing to end a life that leaves me devastated.”

Just Getting Started: Lessons in Life, Love and Menopause by Lisa Snowdon is published by HarperCollins on May 25 at £16.99.

Lisa's new book Lessons in life, love and menopause

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Lisa’s new book Lessons in life, love and menopause

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I turned up to shoot with broken bones after exes’ abuse and suffered miscarriage live on air, reveals Lisa Snowdon

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