For millions of 90s fans, Melinda Messenger was the stunning grid girl turned model who was a fixture on television screens.
But the former Page Three favourite has revealed in a new interview that behind closed doors she plunged into ‘really severe depression,’ after her marriage and finances collapsed.
Melinda, 54, admitted she became desperate to escape the limelight, and it was a pivotal moment while sleeping one night that forced her to make a major career change, quitting the limelight to train as a psychotherapist.
The star of TV hits such as Cowboy Builders, Melinda rose to fame as a model before fronting her own shows, including Channel 5’s Melinda’s Big Night In in 1998.
She was also a fixture on the reality TV scene, competing on Celebrity Big Brother in 2002 and Dancing On Ice in 2009.
Melinda confessed the pressures of juggling her 18-hour workdays with raising her three children – who she shares with ex-husband Wayne Roberts – took their toll, and they split in 2012.
Melinda Messenger has revealed she plunged into ‘really severe depression’ while battling with her marital and financial collapse, before stepping away from the limelight
The star of TV hits such as Cowboy Builders, Melinda rose to fame as a model before fronting her own shows, including Channel 5 ‘s Melinda’s Big Night In in 1998
Speaking to The Sun at an event to promote author Bianca Best’s latest book, Big Impact without Burnout, she said: ‘It was like a life crisis. Everything fell apart. Literally.
‘My marriage ended, and I had a complete financial collapse for all sorts of reasons and lost everything that I had earned.
‘Internally, I had a total collapse – really severe depression to the point where I was like… this is hard work.’
Melinda then made the decision to quit her TV work, and she’s retrained as a psychotherapist, a role she’s practiced since 2015.
The TV star is also part of the Dream Research Institute in London, and does dream guiding – using dreams to help people navigate their subconscious.
She admitted that it was one particular dream that warned her of the difficulties she was about to face.
Melinda briefly returned to the limelight when she appeared on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins in 2023, and on the show she met, and began dating, survivalist Dr Raj Joshi, who was a medic.
The couple enjoyed a whirlwind romance where he proposed just months later, but they split six months after.
Melinda confessed the pressures of juggling work with raising her three children – who she shares with ex-husband Wayne Roberts – took their toll, and they split in 2012 (pictured 2009)
Last year, Melinda split from her fiancé Dr Raj Joshi, just six months after they got engaged
Melinda added that she managed the struggles of stardom by compartmentalising it, but she still felt ‘exposed and visible’ all the time.
The former model has previously insisted her daughter Evie, 21, is not a nepo baby as she weighed in on the ongoing discourse.
She penned: ‘Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts about my daughter Evie ☺️. Just for the record though, she’s not a “nepo baby.” She’s a student, and in her own words, she spends in 20p’s (that’s pence, not pounds).
‘She isn’t a model, though, to be fair she could be if she wanted to, but I am her mum, so I might be a tad biased. More importantly, she’s a beautiful soul inside and out.’
‘Evies not in the industry and not an influencer, unless you count influencing about 1,000 followers, which, let’s be honest, is a bit more “micro” than “mega” (no offence Evie).’
‘That said, for the record, Evie did mention she’s not opposed to being a “nepo baby” she just wouldn’t mind the “nepo pounds” to go with it!
