Becoming a mum has given me a purpose’

Former Love Islander Cara De La Hoyde on the show that made her famous and how parenthood has helped her depression

- SAMUEL McMANUS-MAXWELL

She’s a Love Island winner with over a million social media followers, but when Cara De La Hoyde sits down for a chat with new, the mum-of-two is the first to admit her life is far from perfect.

Since winning the hearts of the nation and bagging the £50,000 cash prize with her now husband, Essex lad Nathan Massey, 30, on the second series of the ITV2 dating show, Cara, 32, has welcomed son Freddie, now four, and daughter Delilah, two. And although she assures new that being a mum is “the best thing I’ve ever done”, she refuses to sugarcoat the trials and tribulations that come with being a parent.

“I was changing the bed earlier and in the corner I found a really big skid mark,” she laughs. “I was like, ‘I don’t think this is Nathan and it definitely isn’t me.’ We’re trying to potty train Delilah at the minute and we leave the nappy off sometimes, so I think she’d climbed on the bed and slid off – but the sheet worked as toilet paper. I’m taking a win from that, because I didn’t find any poo. Maybe the dog’s eaten it!”

Always open about her struggles with anxiety and depression, Cara admitted earlier this year that she’s started taking antidepressants again, telling her followers, “There is no shame in asking for help.”

But despite the stresses and strains of parenthood, she says having children has helped fill “a hole” in her life.

Here, the star tells us why she gives fans such a raw account of parenting, why she no longer watches Love Island and how having children has helped improve her mental health…