Charlotte Church on mother's suicide attempt

Charlotte Church speaks out about her mother's suicide attempt

Charlotte Church has spoken out of the anger she felt when her mother made a suicide attempt.

The singer and TV presenter found her mother, Maria, in bed at home in Cardiff two years ago, having overdosed on sleeping pills.

Maria, 41, was suffering from depression after rumours her husband – Charlotte's stepfather – had been unfaithful.

Charlotte revealed in her forthcoming autobiography, Keep Smiling: 'Everything came to a head one Thursday in the early afternoon. I hadn't heard from Mum and, untypically, her phone was switched off.

'To begin with I thought she must be sleeping off a heavy night. I shook her but she took ages to come to, so I slapped her face. Although she was just about conscious, she was talking gibberish. She struggled to get out of bed and I helped her to the bathroom where she was sick.'

The pregnant singer's new book which is out next month concluded: 'Luckily she hadn't done herself too much damage. She was put on a drip to prevent liver damage and kept under surveillance for a couple of days.'

Charlotte, who is expecting her baby next month, also admitted that the pregnancy was not planned and that boyfriend Gavin Henson made her take two pregnancy tests before believing the result.

'He said: "I just want us to be sure, I don't want us to get our hopes up",' revealed Charlotte.

The star said being pregnant is 'unbelieveable'. Adding: 'All you ever hear about is the morning sickness, but it's a massive strain on the body. My organs are all squashed up and my liver is just crushed to the back of my spine. But I'm ever so happy.'