There was so much trauma I was just on autopilot

It's hard to believe it's 12 months since Lauren Goodger suffered the worst pain of her life with the loss of her baby

- GEMMA MCCARTNEY

This week marks a year since Lauren Goodger tragically lost her baby Lorena, who died just minutes after birth. Now, though, after a period of seemingly never-ending heartache, Lauren, 36, exclusively tells new she is ready to meet someone to settle down with and have another child.

Speaking at our photoshoot in Essex, she reveals, “I’d like to be in a happy, loving relationship – I deserve that. I want another baby, I do. I want to be in love, I want to be happy again. I’m missing that. I’m really missing a man in my life – I’ve always had a boyfriend – and because my family relationship is really up and down.”

Lauren is one of the original TOWIE cast and was a regular at Essex nightclubs Sugar Hut and Faces. But since becoming a mum, she’s more used to nights at home in front of the TV and hopes to meet a man who enjoys the same slower pace of life.

“I don’t know what man I’m going to find,” she says. “I’m not interested in going out, I don’t really want to drink, I just want to chill. I like staying in and being in bed at nine o’clock.

“I’m still fun, but I’m not the Faces Lauren, living her best life, I’m now mum Lauren. This is really new to me. Whenever I’ve got in a relationship, it’s just me. But now I’ve got a daughter I’m a different person. I’m a mum and a woman – I’ve grown.”

Lauren is co-parenting Larose, who turns two this month, with 26-year-old builder Charles Drury, and speaks openly about the difficulties that come with it.