MODEL Danielle Lineker, who last year married BBC’s Match Of The Day presenter Gary, has spoken about the trauma of losing her hair as a teenager.

Danielle, 30, says: “I lost most of the hair on top of my head for about seven months when I was 16. It was stress-related and it suddenly fell out while I was doing my GCSEs.

“I had a bald patch on top and I had to resort to an embarrassing ‘comb-over’ and coloured in any gaps with eyeliner.

“It was a horrible knock at a vulnerable time. When you’re a teenager you’re very self-conscious about your appearance and you’re just starting to like boys. Luckily my girlfriends were amazing and made sure I wasn’t teased.”

Danielle, an occasional presenter on GMTV, admits the episode has had long-lasting effect on her confidence.

“It knocked my self-esteem then and has made me slightly less self-assured. I’m naturally quite an anxious personality.

“I still occasionally get tiny, coin-sized patches of alopecia where hair comes out, usually about three months after a period of stress.”

She credits marriage to Gary, 49, with boosting her confidence.

“They say opposites attract and Gary is very laid back, down-to-earth and easy going, while he says I can worry for Britain and am a bit of a hypochondriac!

“Whenever I worry about my hair he’s lovely – he calms me down and always tells me he can never see anything wrong with it.”

The couple have five children between them. Gary has four sons from his first marriage to ex-wife Michelle and Danielle has an eight-year-old daughter, Ella, with ex-Coventry City player Adam Willis.

She adds: “I think our relationship works well because we both have children. We’d like to have kids together but that’s not on the cards yet. We want a few years to just have time together and to adjust to being a family.

Danielle, who modelled under the name Bux, is 5ft 5in, weighs 8 stone 3lbs and is the new face of Hovis Hearty Oats loaf.

She does Pilates weekly to combat lower back pain triggered by childbirth, but admits she avoids the gym even though the couple have one in the house.

“Gary works out around three or four times a week but I find gym work so boring. I let him get on with it and say ‘Well done!’ when he gets back.”

Danielle, from Cardiff, says her outlook on life was influenced by a disabling accident suffered by her half-brother Kaid, 24, three years ago.

“I realise that if you have your health and so does your family then you have everything to be grateful for,” she says.