Model and actress Christina Storm spoke about her struggles with depression and the loss of former Springbok rugby player James Small during an appearance on Laataand by Rian this week.
Storm, who now lives in St Francis Bay in the Eastern Cape, became visibly emotional when discussing the uncertainty in her life and the impact of Small’s death on her and their daughter.
The model, who landed her first Vogue cover in France at 18, met Small in a Johannesburg nightclub in 1996 when she was 22. Despite their turbulent relationship, she described him as “the only love of my life, forever”.
Storm addressed the media coverage following Small’s death in 2019, particularly reports that he died naked in a nightclub. “James had a heart attack. He was waiting for his long-term girlfriend, Julie, who he had a child with. He had a heart attack, and as they tried to pick him up, his pants slipped down. He was not naked,” she said.
She described Small as misunderstood and said the couple “co-parented so beautifully until the end”.
The death had a significant impact on Storm’s mental health. “It was such a massive loss for my child and to see my child go through that pain – her father was her best friend. It changed me as a person. I started having panic attacks, and a month later, I ended up in rehab for depression and anxiety,” she said.
Storm spent a month in rehabilitation, followed by another eight weeks at a treatment centre. She has been seeing a psychologist for the past four years.
During the interview, she also revealed she once spent a night in jail after crashing into a police car.
When host Rian van Heerden told her he could see she was struggling, Storm responded: “It’s a very uncertain time in my life. I can’t do anything about tomorrow, I can’t do anything about yesterday, I can only deal with where I am now.”
She ended the interview by saying: “This is not the end of me.”
Laataand by Rian airs every Tuesday at 21:00 on kykNET (DStv channel 144) and is available on DStv Stream and Catch Up.
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