Thalia Heffernan revealed she had to learn to step away from the harsh world of modelling after suffering both mentally and physically.
The Dubliner, 24, suffered from an underactive thyroid, which she believes stemmed from depression.
However, the former Dancing With the Stars contestant told that the health issues encouraged her to take a step back from the pressures of industry.
Thalia said: “It probably started when I had a thyroid problem.
“At 19, I came back from three months working in Australia with an underactive thyroid.
“It was a case that my mental state had diminished so much that my body actually had to intervene to stop me from going over the edge.
"I went to my doctor and he said, ‘Your body is protecting itself from your mind’.”
Explaining the dangers of working in the modelling world, Thalia told Life Magazine: “Because you’re working off yourself, using your body, or your face, when you get turned down, or go to four or five castings a day, and nothing comes out of it, then you’re running around on literally no income because there are no jobs coming in.
“I don’t know if this is a personal thing, but I started to develop a sense that it was my fault.
“Because that’s what you’re told. I was 15 when I started, legally, a child.
“At that age, you’re so impressionable. If someone told me something, I believed it.”
