Gemma Ward is ready to return to modelling after battling anxiety and depression.
Gemma Ward
The 30-year-old Australian supermodel was one of the most in-demand catwalk stars of her generation but the blonde beauty left the fashion industry in 2007 after realising she needed to deal with an eating disorder, a reliance on substances and her mental health issues.
The 'The Great Gatsby' star was picked out to be a model as a teenager at a time when she "looked pretty scary" after having just lost a lot of weight due to a bout of depression and this strange to start to her career endured when she reached the top but she is now in a healthy and happy place in her life.
In an interview with W magazine, she said: "It's amazing what the human body can endure, and what you can kind of get yourself into mentally. For a long time, I wanted to talk about what I was going through, but I was still in it.
Gemma found solace by reading biographies on other celebrity women who had endured problems with their body image and fame, such as the late Princess Diana and Jane Fonda, and now she feels as though she wants to use her voice to help other models and women who may be experiencing the same issues as her.
She said: "I always wanted to get to that place where I could talk about it, because it would mean that I was no longer in it.
"People would say to me, 'You're never going to get over this - it's with you for life.' And then you get desperate, and you're like, 'If this is an unbreakable cycle, do I just end it?'
"It's amazing even to be sitting here, going, 'Wow, I actually got through it.' Because I did get trapped in a cycle until I finally got help, which people should be aware that they can get. Thank God I was - otherwise I might not be here anymore."
Tagged in Princess Diana Jane Fonda