Brooke: refused a ghost-writer

But that's not how she felt a couple of years ago.

The actress - who shot to fame in films like Blue Lagoon and Pretty Baby - found herself struck down by postnatal depression when she had her first child.

Now, she's written a book about her experiences and the hope they offer for other women in the same situation.

She came in to the Breakfast studio this morning, to talk about what happened - and her new role in the stage version of the musical Chicago.

Brooke, whose daughter Rowan is now two years old, found herself spiralling into a deep depression after she was born.

"It was important for me to write because I needed to take responsibility for it and say what I had gone through," she explained to Dermot and Natasha.

"Someone needed to talk about the fact that so many women suffer from post-natal depression - about three out of ten new mothers.

"When I wrote the book, they asked if I wanted a ghost writer, but I said no: I wanted to do it myself.

"It has to be honest otherwise the point that I was trying to make would have been lost."

Brooke firmly believes her depression was caused by a chemical imbalance after the birth - and it is curable.

"You don't need to suffer and soldier on," she told us. "It's biochemical. People around you needn't feel it's their fault either."

Now fully recovered, Brooke is staying in London for the next couple of months, while she takes on the role of Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago.

She had just nine days to prepare for the role of the stage-struck femme fatale who kills her lover.

You can catch her on stage at London's Adelphi theatre, until the end of July.

watch Breakfast's interview with Brooke Shields in full