Lisa Faulkner was always "stressed and in angst" before adopting her daughter in 2008.
The 48-year-old actress – who has 14-year-old daughter Billie with her ex-husband Chris Coghill – has admitted to being miserable following "lots and lots of failed IVF and going through the adoption process".
Appearing on ‘Lorraine’, Lisa shared: "For me, wellness and mental health means self-care. We all struggle at times in our life with anxiety and stress and feeling below par. To me, I have to keep that in touch."
Lisa traced her low mood back to her teenage years, when her mother passed away.
She said: "My mum died when i was 16, which is when i started feeling very low. Since then, I’ve had to keep talking to people to make sure I don’t sink very low.
"I’ve lived my life in front of the spotlight since I was 16, which can be positive and negative."
Lisa – who is now married to the Australian chef John Torode – also reflected on her fertility issues, saying her desperation to have a child left her feeling anxious.
She said: "I struggled with lots and lots of IVF which failed and going through the adoption process, which meant I was always stressed and in this angst."
Lisa previously admitted her world got "smaller and smaller" during her struggles with fertility and IVF treatment.
She said: "My whole world got smaller and smaller and was just about how I was going to have a baby, and why wasn’t it working?
"We tried all IVF, we had an amazing doctor who eventually said, ‘I can’t do the magic, I’m letting you go’.
"That was the door that shut – I was on my knees saying, ‘I don’t know what to do now?’ It’s a blow, having to tell people that it didn’t work. And you’re pumped on hormones that makes you lose grip on reality. You go crazy."
Lisa Faulkner says fertility issues left her feeling ‘stressed’
