Lottie Tomlinson opens up on the deaths of her mother and sister: 'You just go into a survival mode'

Lottie Tomlinson "never expected" things to get any worse when her mother died.

The 25-year-old makeup artist - who is the younger sister of One Direction star Louis Tomlinson - lost her mother Johannah when she died in 2016 aged 43 following a battle with leukemia and stepped into a maternal role for the sake of her five younger siblings but was sent back to "square one" of her grief three years later when her sister Félicité suffered a fatal overdose at the age of 19.

Speaking on UK TV show 'Lorraine', she told stand-in host Christine Lampard: "I think it was such a natural instinct for me [to take over] and credit my mum for that.

"She instilled this maternal instinct into us all and when something like that happens, you go into a survival mode and straight away I knew that the little ones needed me and I wanted to do whatever I could to make things easier for them.

" It kind of just came naturally but it was such a life-changing experience for me to have that repsonsilbity and I think it's really set the tone for everything that's happened since.

"I think it was really hard that we knew we were going to have to go back to square one [when my sister died].

"When something as big as losing a parent happens, you never expect it to get any worse than that.

"And then it did.

"So it was a really tough time for the whole family but we've really stuck together and we've managed to come out the other side."

But the influencer - who has a 21-month-old son Lucky with her fiancé Lewis Burton and is currently expecting her second with him - has now written her memoir 'Lucky Girl' and has teamed up with bereavement support charity Sue Ryder to help those through the early stages of grief.

She added: "I wanted to show people that in those dark times when you're grieving that you can come through it and you can be happy again. I'ts been amazing to work with Sue Ryder as well because as soon started to get to a more comfortable place with my grief, I wanted to help people in that beginning stage because I didn't think I'd ever get through it.

"They've got so many amazing support systems for people, counselling for free, grief cafes where people can go along and talk, and I would've loved to have known about that."