Stonewall conference in London on 5th July 2013

Model-turned-actress Sophie Ward considered suicide after 'coming out' as a lesbian over fears her two young sons would suffer as a result of her revelation.

The former Vogue cover girl, who is the daughter of late stage and screen star Simon Ward, left her husband of eight years in 1996 to embark on a relationship with Korean-American writer Rena Brannan.

Ward worried her sons, then aged seven and four, would be targeted by other children at school because of the family drama, and she even contemplated taking her own life.

Speaking at a conference organised by gay rights charity Stonewall in London last week (5th July 2013), Ward said "I considered my options and I have to say I wondered if (my children would) be better off without me. Those are the effects of bullying - how it strikes at the heart of a family..."

"I really wanted to be a good mother... I had done all the things I could to give my children a good start but what I didn't factor in was that in 1996 I fell in love with a woman."

"I was scared they would be bullied and that it would be my fault. Rather than being the person who was going to protect them from harm, I was going to be the cause of it."