Yasmin Le Bon "absolutely" had a breakdown because of the "drip-feed of life"

She said: "She made it blatantly obvious that I needed to do something. My energy levels were terrible, I was sleeping very badly, my ability to recover after exercise was not good.

"I needed to address things in my past that I hadn't really dealt with. They were mounting up and making everything a lot worse.

"Nothing terrible - just the drip-feed of life; things that have happened, that have been said, situations that you have parked somewhere until your body can't take it any more."

Asked if she had a breakdown, she told You magazine: "Yes, I have been at that level, absolutely."

But the British beauty was keen to stress there was no major tipping point for her situation.

She said: "That is the misconception - that there must be a fault. But there is no major drama, it's just trying to live. We hold on to the weirdest things. There will be one little comment I made to somebody 25 years ago in a mindless moment that still hurts me. Those just build up and unwittingly start to change the shape of things."

But Yasmin was left in a "dark place" and thinks the back pain she was suffering at the time was partly an emotional response.

She said: "You are so linked to all [the girls'] moods, all their anxieties... I had been a punchbag for a long time and it was having an effect. That whole emotional drain pushed me over the edge with my back. I couldn't cope with the pain; I was in a dark place - but, hey, that's what friends are for."

Yasmin stopped martial arts training and has gained weight, and though few of her old clothes fit, she doesn't mind.

She said: "My entire wardrobe no longer fits me, but maybe it's time to get some new things. I'm never going to be that size again and I don't want to be, because I know I wouldn't feel good; I would be living on the edge again.

"I think you have to be a stone over your prime weight - that's what keeps your joints happy. You need to be a healthy weight or you pay the price for it later with osteoporosis."

However, the supermodel confessed to feeling "mortified" when her weight gain saw her breasts grow and begin "jiggling around".

She said: "Agh, the boobs! It's quite a shock to develop breasts later in life. I've always felt very masculine; I've got a strong jaw.

"When I wore a vest and walked down the street, suddenly I had these things jiggling around and people were looking - I was mortified. It was like part of me had disappeared."