"She had died of a brain tumor a year earlier and I had never really spoken about her,” she told the Mail on Sunday newspaper's Even magazine.

"She was a beautiful person who was very meaningful in my life and I wanted to honor her instead of hiding my experience.

"There was a point years after we split when she phoned to tell me to say she had been offered a large amount of money to sell a photograph of us together and had chosen not to do it."

"It was a very big decision because she really could have used the money.

"I felt it was very important to take the onus off that type of relationship, to say this happened and I feel no shame about it."