We'd be a perfect match if you were still Frank

TRANSGENDER Kellie Maloney ended a potential romance when the friend said they would be a perfect match... if she was still Frank.

- MATTHEW YOUNG

Ten years ago, the 71-year-old transitioned from tough-talking boxing promoter Frank to blonde Kellie.

And in 2017 she became close to an English woman, with the pair splitting their time together between the UK and Kellie's home in Portugal.

After more than a year, Kellie ended it when her friend said: "We would have a perfect relationship if you were Frank" Kellie tried to take her own life in October 2018. She was found by a friend at her Algarve home and was taken to hospital where she awoke chained to a bed.

When eldest daughter Emma, 47, visited, Kellie recalled: "She said, 'Dad why would you do this, we need you in our life, all three of us'.

"I realised I still had a responsibility as a parent." She checked into a psychiatric hospital in Faro, which she describes as "the most terrifying experience of my life".

Kellie said: "That was probably the shock I needed to get my life in order. Up to then I was probably looking for someone to come into my life.

"I then let someone into my life that I shouldn't have let in. Nothing sexual happened. It could have.

"That's when I realised I don't need people in my life because I have feelings and I don't need those feelings turned upside down.

"It's far safer to cuddle Yogi Bear (one of her three dogs) than a human." Talking about her suicide bid, she added: "I came out of that dark tunnel a brighter person.

"But I know I could slip back in there.

I've learned not to drink too much unless I'm in the right frame of mind and to not let negativity into my life." Kellie was a trailblazer when she went public in the Sunday Mirror.

A decade on she says she honestly doesn't know if she has a sexual preference, adding: "But I can say that if I walk into a room and a light goes on in my head then I'll pursue that person.