Lisa Faulkner opens up about adoption joy after IVF and miscarriage heartbreak

Lisa Faulker has opened up about her difficult journey towards motherhood and revealed her adopted daughter is 'her everything' after she spent years and over £30,000 on failed IVF attempts.

Lisa Faulker is mum to Billie, who will turn 12 this year, who she adopted in 2008 aged just 15-months with her now ex-husband Chris Coghill.

The 46-year-old chef suffered years of tragic miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy before she decided to take a different route to motherhood.

Speaking to The Mirror, Lisa gushed: 'I have got my little girl and I’m completely over the moon with my little angel. She is my number one, she is my everything.

'I feel very blessed to have her. I'm so very proud of my daughter. I'm surprised by her every day, I think she's amazing. I am very happy with my lot.'

Lisa's fertility issues came to light after she was left with one working fallopian tube following an ectopic pregnancy at six weeks.

She went on to spend £35,000 on four rounds of IVF treatment that ultimately proved unsuccessful.

Lisa opened up about how the pain of losing a unborn child was made harder as her friends were successful conceiving.

'It's really, really tough.We take it for granted, thinking we are going to have three girls and two boys, and this is what my life is going to be, when it’s not...' Lisa confessed.

She continued: 'All my friends at the time were getting pregnant around me and it was heartbreaking. You want to be happy for everybody and you feel like such a failure.

'But there are other ways to be a mother. It took a long time for me to go, "I don’t have to carry a baby to be a mum". One day you have to let that go.'

Lisa and EastEnders star Chris split in 2012 after seven years of marriage. She went on to find love with MasterChef judge John Torode who has four children of his own.