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Lisa Snowdon says modelling was an escape from abusive relationship

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 04:  Lisa Snowdon attends the Breast Cancer Care London Fashion Show in association with Dorothy Perkins at Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel on October 4, 2018 in London, England.  (Photo by Tim P. Whitby/Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for Breast Cancer Care)
Lisa Snowdon attends the Breast Cancer Care London Fashion Show, 2018 (Tim P. Whitby/Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for Breast Cancer Care)

Lisa Snowdon has revealed she was once in an abusive relationship and that her modelling career gave her an escape.

The star, 49, said the relationship started off as being mentally abusive but became physical and she suffered injuries such as a black eye and a broken arm.

She said she didn’t tell anyone because her boyfriend told her if she did he would kill her and them.

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Opening up on the She Loves Herself podcast, Snowdon said she tried to leave many times but that her boyfriend would find her and “drag” her back.

She said: “I was in a really bad relationship, it was five years of being in this… which started to be mentally abusive and then physically abusive, so it was like my escapism going to work obviously.

LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 08:  Lisa Snowdon attends the TRIC Awards at Grosvenor House Hotel at The Grosvenor House Hotel on March 8, 2016 in London, England.  (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Lisa Snowdon attends the TRIC Awards at Grosvenor House Hotel at The Grosvenor House Hotel on March 8, 2016 (David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)

“I was on these shoots and it was back when they would do a lot of make-up, so they would shave your eyebrows, pluck them to about there and then draw them on really high arched, and it was like, a lot of escapism, a lot of really great make-up, a lot of really creative shoots, so I could go in, almost like an actress and create this new character for the day.”

Sharing more details, Snowdon discussed how she could be attracted to the wrong people in the past.

Model Lisa Snowdon at the launch of 'Home Grown Heroes' - a new five year partnership between Domestos and the British Red Cross to give recognition to the 55,000 volunteers who work across all the British Red Cross services - in Regent's Park, London.  * The focus of activity  will be on two of the British Red Cross services: Home from Hospital, and Emergency Response. A fundraising campaign begins in January and February 2002 with special limited edition bottles of Domestos bleach, 5p from each sale going directly to the British Red Cross.   (Photo by Yui Mok - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)
Model Lisa Snowdon at the launch of 'Home Grown Heroes' 2002 (Yui Mok - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)

“It was this doting, lots of attention, lots of love, which is what you want, because the inner child is craving that like ‘Just love me love me love me’, and then somewhere along the line, it flips,” she said.

Snowdon said when she tried to leave her boyfriend he would always find her, and took her back, which she said was “terrifying”.

Eventually she turned to a mutual friend for help.

She said: “I confided in him one day and he said, 'Something bad is going on in this relationship'.

“I said, ‘I need your help, I really need your help,’ and he said, but I’m friends with you both, you are putting me in a…

“And I said, ‘Please help me, you need to save me’.

"I’d had a broken arm, I’d had a black eye, there was loads of things that had happened, it was proper physically abusive.”

Lisa Snowdon and George Smart attending the TRIC Awards 50th Birthday held at The Grosvenor House Hotel, London. Picture Credit Should Read: Doug Peters/EMPICS
Lisa Snowdon and her current partner George Smart. (Doug Peters/EMPICS)

The friend agreed and the star managed to flee the relationship.

Snowdon is now in a happy relationship with entrepreneur George Smart.

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The couple have been engaged for four years.

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