Jane McDonald never wanted to depend on anyone else financially.
The 61-year-old star first found fame as a singer on the BBC docusoap 'The Cruise' and has since been a mainstay on British television but insisted that, o the advice of her mother, she never wanted to marry for money and wanted to look after herself in terms of earning money.
She told The Daily Star newspaper: "My mother always said to me, 'Don't depend on a man for your money.
"She came from an era where if she wanted anything, my father only gave her so much money a week, which was the norm at that time.
"But she always said, 'Never ever depend on anybody else for your income!
"So instead of marrying the doctor, I wanted to be the doctor."
But Jane - who was initially married to her former manager Henrik Brixen from 1998 until 2003 and then had a relationship with Eddie Roth from 2006 until his death in 2021 - found herself in trouble in the years after her initial success and at the end of her marriage decided that she had to be "in control" of things.
She said: "I thought to myself, 'Right, this is up to me to make this work. You are in control of your own life.
"If you make a mistake that's OK - learn from it and move on..
The 'You're My World' songstress became a long-standing panellist on 'Loose Women' in the years after she shot to stardom, and has also hosted a string of travel documentaries alongside her music career.
Jane has now put pen to paper for her latest memoir 'Let the Light In' but admitted that she "hated" the writing process because she had to face everything again, although she is ultimately "pleased" with the tome now that it is done.
She said: "I hated it. I had to face all my failures again and I found that quite difficult. I'm not one that looks back - I'm a person who looks forward to the next thing as much as I possibly can.
"But I'm so pleased I did write the book because I'm sure in my own little way it may help people, who can say, 'Jane's been through this so I can do this as well."