Trinny Woodall has revealed there was "nothing I could have done" to prevent her ex-husband Johnny Elichaoff's tragic suicide. Speaking on Fearne Cotton's Happy Place podcast, the 61 year old opened up about the former drummer and businessman's death in 2014, whilst championing the vital work of mental health and suicide prevention charities. When Cotton questioned her about any lingering regrets, Woodall responded: "I think going back to earlier, it's that would've, should've, could've – so do I regret that I didn't do more for my ex-husband to stop him killing himself? No, because it was nothing I could have done. So to ponder on the regret of somebody who kills himself, it can take you into the darkest hole, but you can also know when somebody who is in that situation switches off, and that is their path and nobody can get in. I had to learn."

Woodall highlighted the existence of "fabulous charities" operating within mental health and suicide prevention – noting it remains the leading cause of death amongst men under 50. She then detailed how she helped her daughter Lyla, who was just 11 years old at the time, navigate the devastating loss of her father, reports Wales Online.

The television personality recalled: "When I heard about Lyla's dad, Lyla was at school and my first challenge was how can I even tell her, how can I say the words to tell her. My sister was a friend of a woman called Julia Samuel, who wrote an amazing book, Grief Works, and she's fantastic.

"Julia came around to our house and I just said, 'I need some words', and so she said, 'you're going to tell her he had a heart attack in his head'."

She shared. "We told her (Lyla) and she screamed really loudly and it was like an animal scream, and then 20 minutes later she's downstairs getting a snack, so children's absorption of what has happened is that there's that gut, she really loved her dad.

This thing is just, she can't quite understand it, but she knows that he's not coming back in some daily way and then we had a cremation so then there's a real awareness."

Trinny went on: "There's a lot of people saying, 'I'm so sorry about your dad, Lyla', so she's manic a little, she was running around with her friends and then there was a memorial only 10 days after that, and there were 1,200 people in the church.

Julia came around to our house and I just said, 'I need some words', and so she said, 'you're going to tell her he had a heart attack in his head'.

Woodall said Lyla at the time ‘couldn’t quite understand’ her father’s death until they had the cremation that created ‘a real awareness.’

"Lyla got up and read If (the poem by Rudyard Kipling), but she didn’t read it; she said it with nothing and didn’t cry, and it wasn’t that she was being strong."

Woodall and Elichaoff got married in 1999 and split 10 years later, with Elichaoff dying by taking his own life in 2014, aged 55.

He fell to his death from a car park roof following a 20-year battle with a painkiller addiction.

The complete interview can be listened to on the Happy Place podcast, accessible on Apple Podcasts, YouTube and Spotify.

For emotional support, you can call the Samaritans 24-hour helpline on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org, visit a Samaritans branch in person or go to the Samaritans website.