With five children - three sons with her former husband, footballer Jamie O'Hara, and a son and a daughter with her current husband, electrician Michael O'Neill - Danielle Lloyd's decision to appear on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins required more consideration than some of the other contestants before she said yes.
Ultimately though, the former glamour model went on the iconic reality show (alongside former health secretary Matt Hancock, _Love Island_ers Montana Brown and Teddy Soares and singer Gareth Gates) to prove to her kids just how strong she was, in the hope of making them proud.
And having watched the first episode which saw Danielle Lloyd be one of the only contestants of Celeb SAS to complete a tightrope walk over ten metres in the air, proud is something that her family will definitely be. She tells Grazia about the experience...
GRAZIA: What was the biggest challenge for you on Celeb SAS?
DANIELLE LLOYD: Leaving my kids and my family was incredibly hard - I cried myself to sleep most nights just because of how much I was missing them.
I was also very nervous about the fitness side of things prior to heading into the jungle because I was just not physically fit at all. I feel like mentally, I'm such a strong person because of all my past experiences with domestic violence and the hardships that I've faced. Physically, not so much!
G: How difficult was the programme mentally?
DL: I definitely did find it tough when it came to the mental side of things. There was times when I was like, 'Oh, I can't do this. I'm gonna leave.'
G: Was there like a particular moment where that happened?
DL: Every day when I woke up! I'd wake up and see that the torrential rain hadn't let up and just question whether I wanted to be there. The water was up to our like shins at one point and we were like wading through the water. It was never dry.
G: How did you find having a bag put over your head in the beginning?
DL: From the moment that bag went over my head - and it happened very early on - it just felt awful. I've been in a violent relationship, and in those situations you lose all control of your own life. Not being able to see where I was going or who I was with took me back to that point because I didn't feel like I was in control.
I didn't like it and I started to hyperventilate, and I couldn’t breathe properly. I just felt sick and anxious. I actually got really upset at one point and the SAS officers had to check in with me to make sure that I was OK.
G: What do your children make of you going on the series?
DL: The older ones - Archie, 12, Harry, 11 and George, nine - know that I went on Celeb SAS, but they don't know how far I got or how well I did. I can't tell them because they'd just go and tell everyone! They're super excited to watch it, especially because they've seen clips from the programme before.
They've never watched it properly, but I'm going to let them this time so that they can watch me. That was part of the reason that I did it really: to prove to them how strong a mum can be.
Michael, my husband, was in charge for the three weeks that I was away. I was so worried! I kept thinking 'I hope he’s still alive!' I didn't want to quit at any point however, I just wanted to try and stay there as long as possible to show them how tough I am.
G: What do you hope viewers will learn about you from watching Celeb SAS?
DL: Just that I’m tough! I feel like people probably think I’m quite glam and that I'm not gonna get stuck in, but I really did.
G: Did you have any qualms about being so vulnerable on TV?
DL: I feel like you just forget that you're actually on a show so I didn't really care. We were in the rain constantly, every day you would have mud spattered everywhere, you couldn't get a shower and then when you did you'd have to shower in front of everyone so everything just went out the window. I just didn’t care.
G: Did you form any close bonds with any of the other Celeb SAS contestants?
DL: Amber Turner and Montana Brown – we’ve become really really close and we’re still in touch. We've got a WhatsApp group that all of the Celeb SAS 2023 contestants are in as well where we just check in with one another.