The winner of Olympic gold medals in the 800 and 1500 metres at Athens 2004 told the BBC she was cutting herself regularly a year earlier "to release the anguish" she experienced.

The 47-year-old spoke about her experiences at a Health and Wellbeing Live show in Royal Tunbridge Wells, near her home in her native Kent in England.

Speaking to the BBC, Dame Kelly said after "ups and downs for so many years", she got to the point where she looked in the mirror and "didn't want to be here".

"The scissors were in the bathroom and I used them to release the anguish that I had," she said.

"It was really a bad place to be.

"But my biggest message to people is that you can get out of that and you can still achieve.

"There is always a light at the end of the tunnel."

In 2009, she was named as President of Commonwealth Games England but has since been replaced by Denise Lewis. 

The following year saw her inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame. 

The former soldier is the founder of the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust, a charity which helps young athletes and disadvantaged young people. 

On the track, she also won 800m Olympic bronze at Sydney 2000, three World Championship medals and two Commonwealth golds.

Becky Randall, the co-founder of Health and Wellbeing Live, told the BBC that Dame Kelly "struggled but she kept going". 

"So many of us are inhibited by a black cloud that sometimes descends, by feeling not good enough," she said. 

"I want people to be able to understand that they are not alone and that talking about it is what really helps. 

"It's got to be out there."