Danielle Lloyd WAG | Jamie O’Hara's girlfriend Dani talks for first time since attack at Crystal nightclub, in London's West End

Danielle Lloyd talks for first time since horror attack at nightclub

By Carole Aye Maung, 31/05/2009

BATTERED model Danielle Lloyd last night told for the first time how she feared she was going to bleed to DEATH on a cold pavement after being attacked in a nightclub.

Bravely revealing two horrific wounds that will scar her for life, Danielle recalled how a night out with Spurs star boyfriend Jamie O'Hara descended into violence and she crashed through a glass table.

The harrowing aftermath photos of her lying on the ground, bleeding from deep cuts in her back and leg shocked the nation.

CLICK TO SEE DANI ON VIDEO

Danielle Lloyd talks about horror at nightclub

Danielle, 25, choked back tears as she told us:

"I could feel myself slipping away. I really thought I was going to die. I was lying in a pool of my own blood, just screaming over and over, 'I'm going to die! I'm going to die!' "

TEARS: Dani will now hire a personal minder

In a deeply emotional interview the TV star and Wag confessed that the attack, plus problems over the past year, have:

PUSHED her to the brink of suicide,
FORCED her to get counselling to rebuild her shattered confidence,
TERRIFIED her into hiring a personal bodyguard,
DESTROYED her social life, and made her vow NEVER to go clubbing again.

Still shaken by her surgeon's verdict that she was lucky not to LOSE her left leg, Danielle said: "I have to count my blessings, I lost so much blood I could very easily have died."

But she is still struggling to understand how a fantastic night out in London's West End last Sunday could have ended in such horror.

Screaming

"We'd been to a lovely wedding, one of Jamie's relatives," she recalled. "And then we enjoyed a fantastic family meal at Zuma restaurant in Knightsbridge.

I'M STAYING IN: Crippled by gash on leg, Danielle is now too scared to go clubbing again

"Jamie had booked a table at Crystal nightclub specially and six of us went on there together. I never imagined it could ever end up like it did."

Danielle can't talk about the incident for legal reasons but told us: "The last thing I remember is seeing some girls' faces right in my face as I passed out.

"After that I just recall snapshots of what was absolutely the worst night of my life. I can remember being laid out on a sofa inside the club, seeing a lot of blood and then screaming hysterically.

"There was blood everywhere-all over me, all over the floor, all over Jamie, all over everyone round me. And I was just so scared because I knew it was all MY blood."

As Jamie raced to call 999 Danielle's party was asked to take her outside. She said: "I was slipping in and out of consciousness. I still don't know why I couldn't wait inside the club until the ambulance had arrived. But Jamie's brother Ryan carried me out the back way and then I was laid out on the pavement.

"It was only then I saw the injury to my leg for the first time. There was a deep gaping wound to the back of my calf, a big chunk of muscle hanging out and blood pouring.

SCAR FOR LIFE: Danielle's 6-inch back wound

"Jamie's cousin Michael immediately took off his tie and wrapped it tightly round my leg as a makeshift tourniquet. If it wasn't for his quick thinking, I could have bled to death."

Danielle says she was appalled by the reaction of ghoulish bystanders.

"While I was screaming and crying, people were crowding round, taking pictures and even laughing at me," she said.

"I'll never forget that. I can't believe how sick and nasty some people can be. Their behaviour was disgusting. Jamie was cradling my head, trying to calm me down. At the same time he was trying to keep people away from me."

Then eyewitnesses were stunned that Jamie had to break off from comforting his stricken girlfriend as a member of the club staff followed outside and presented him with a credit card machine, insisting he settle their £135 drinks bill.

ORDEAL: Injured Danielle on pavement

By the time the ambulance arrived to take Danielle to University College Hospital her fears were turning to rage.

She said: "I was getting angry and thinking, 'Why has this happened to me?' The police wanted to speak to me but I couldn't tell them much at the time because I was too emotional.

"All I remember is screaming and swearing a lot when I saw my leg, the nurses asking me not to swear as there were children around, and being given something to sedate me. But I was just so angry and scared.

"Then the doctor told me that my leg injury was so bad I would need surgery. It was all going from bad to worse. I was absolutely distraught.

TERROR: Dani after the attack

"They told me that the muscle was badly damaged and the cut was deeper than they'd realised." With her leg dressed and bandaged, arrangements were made for an operation at the private Wellington hospital later in the day.

"By this stage it was 4.30am on Monday and both Jamie and I were exhausted," added Danielle. "The police had taken my bloodstained dress away as evidence so the hospital gave me an old T-shirt and theatre trousers to wear then discharged me." But the drama wasn't over. Danielle hadn't got as far as the hospital doors when, by chance, the T-shirt rode up to reveal the six-inch gash across her back which no one had yet noticed.

Danielle said: "I was so numb with pain and the drugs they'd given me I hadn't even realised I'd hurt my back. But suddenly I knew it was serious because of the way Jamie gasped when he clocked it. So we went back inside where I was given more painkilling injections, and 16 stitches."

A taxi eventually took them back to Jamie's Essex home at around 8am. They tried to get some sleep but after half an hour Danielle woke screaming to find the bed sheets saturated with blood.

Nightmare

"It was coming from the wound in my leg," she said. "But Jamie was brilliant. He wasted no time getting me into the back of his car and drove me straight to the Wellington in St John's Wood.

TROUBLE AHEAD: Danielle & Jamie off to club last Sunday

"Even though I wasn't due to be operated on until 5pm they put me straight into a bed, fixed me up with a drip, gave me morphine to control the pain and made me comfortable. It was such a relief for both of us." Danielle says that she wouldn't have got through her nightmare if it wasn't for the loving support of boyfriend Jamie. "He's been my rock, my strength throughout," she insisted. "He never once left my side. He was always there soothing me, encouraging me, holding my hand.

"After surgery he even crept into my tiny single hospital bed and cuddled me all night, telling me how brave I am and how much I'm going to achieve in my life.

"We've only been together for four months but have already been though so much together.

"It seems that something bad happens to us every week. Only three weeks ago, Jamie had to have an operation for a football injury.

"Then there was another nightclub incident when I was punched in the face. Last week my house was broken into, and I had to have an operation for polycystic ovaries.

"So for the last few weeks it seems like all we've been dealing with is police and hospitals."

The crescent-shaped wound to Danielle's calf was so severe it took layer upon layer of stitches to close it.

While I was screaming and crying people were laughing at me. It was disgusting

Her surgeon Elliott Sorrone said she will need months of physiotherapy before she is able to walk properly again without a limp. He added: "Miss Lloyd is very lucky that the major blood vessels and arteries were not involved, otherwise she would have been left permanently paralysed."

As she recovered in the sanctuary of 22-year-old Jamie's luxurious mansion Danielle looked fragile and subdued, clearly struggling to come to terms with the attack.

And, totally separate from that incident, she has also had to deal with a hateful spate of insults and verbal attacks.

Battling to keep her composure, she said: "I'm routinely bad- mouthed by girls who are jealous of me. All models get a bit of that but I definitely get more than my fair share.

"They're jealous of the way I look, because I'm a successful model, I earn my own money, own my own house and cars and because I've dated some well-known footballers.

"There's a perception that I'm a smug, stuck-up bitch.

"But I'm nothing like that. I'm not a bad person. I've never done anything to anybody. I'm home-loving and down-to-earth.

"Yet I get a stream of hate-filled messages sent to my fan pages and MySpace. It's hard to stomach.

"They write 'She's an ugly slag', 'She's such a tramp', 'Why does she get anywhere?', 'She's a slut'-all kind of things like that.

"It's a girl thing-but so hurtful and bitchy they reduce me to tears.

"When I'm out girls come right up and insult me. They call me the most horrible names or accuse me of eyeing up their boyfriends."

Extra excerpts from Danielle's interview can be seen on our website notw.co.uk.

Hate

But suddenly dissolving into tears she sobbed: "But I really don't understand why people don't like me. I really don't know what I've done. How can people be so nasty?

"I've worked hard for everything I've got in my life and I've come from nothing. But other girls seem to hate me for it."

Last summer a Facebook page encouraging people to join the 'I hate Danielle Lloyd' group really hurt. "I was at a particularly low point in my life anyway," she admitted. "I was out all the time, drinking too much and everything got on top of me. I just wanted to end my life.

"Then the Facebook thing happened and it really affected me. It was a horrible time. I had a complete breakdown. I couldn't even leave my house. I realised I needed help quickly before it was too late.

"I started seeing a counsellor every week and she really helped build my self-esteem and shattered confidence. She taught me to love myself again.

"But this last week has just knocked it all out of me once more. Thankfully, the counsellor is coming this weekend. I know I'll get stronger again."

Now out of immediate danger, Danielle's thoughts have turned to the impact her injuries could have on her modelling career.

"Obviously, the scars will affect me," she said. "I'm lucky they're not on my face. But they make me feel very ugly. The worst thing at the moment is just being stuck indoors feeling so depressed. I can't walk, I'm frightened to go out and feel helpless."

In the week a report revealed that women are now responsible for a quarter of all violent attacks, Danielle said the Crystal incident has left her so fearful she is GIVING UP clubbing in London.

She said: "You can't let things like this hold you prisoner but when I do venture out I'm definitely not going to clubs any more. From now on I'll always be nervous about going out drinking."

Revealing she and Jamie will now hire a personal minder, Danielle added:

"That's the only way I'll ever feel 100 per cent safe again."