Penny Mallory is former British Rally Championship driver and motoring TV presenter, who has climbed two of the world's seven highest summits, run marathons and fought in two boxing matches.

She's a tough cookie, so it's no surprise that her job now is being a performance coach. But that toughness had to start somewhere, and in our incredible conversation today, Penny shares the heart-breaking truth about her childhood and teen years.

Growing up, Penny's mum suffered from manic depression and her illness, meant that she spent many years of Penny's childhood in a Victorian mental asylum. Penny became the parent figure aged around 7 and cared for her, hiding what was happening at home but playing up at school, to the extent that she end up running away from home at 14, joining a school boarding hostel - and never went back.

As soon as she could, she moved to London, moving between homeless shelters, squats, sofas and council flats. After one particularly difficult episode, Penny felt that she couldn't carry on, but in her words, decided that before she did anything stupid, there was one thing she had wanted to try since she first saw it on the TV aged just 6.