On The Bachelor Australia, she’s the confident lingerie designer who’s captured Matt Agnew’s eye.
But behind the scenes, Monique, 26, reveals a different story, with mental health issues taking over, resulting in desperate calls to emergency and fears for a heart attack.
Monique tells TV WEEK her life changed forever when she went overseas for business and had a bad motorbike accident, which resulted in her fracturing her skull and unable to fly home for weeks.
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“The recovery from the initial injuries was painful but manageable, however due to the impact of the accident it resulted in my left ear bones to shatter and disconnect leaving me almost deaf in that ear and with constant loud ringing in the ear,” she explains.
The reality star had to wait 12 months to have the reconstruction, and following the surgery she had complications.
“I had constant vertigo, I couldn’t walk and was bleeding, so I was put on a high dose of steroids to rule out some potential issues,” she explains.
But that’s when things took an unfortunate turn.
“The drugs induced me into steroid psychosis – essentially medically induced psychotic episodes – uncontrollably,” she reveals. “This happened daily with each episode worsening.”
The bubbly blonde has a harrowing story to tell.
(Source: Network Ten)Monique said she was told my nurses that she was anxious, but disagreed and refused medical treatment “due to the effects it had on my mind”.
“It’s affected my mental psyche forever,” she says. “I didn’t know what was happening. It was humiliating and tormenting beyond words.”
The panic attacks continued following her release from hospital and resulted in calls to emergency.
“I had no family in Perth and it got so bad I called 000 as I thought I was having a heart attack,” she admits. “I went to the closest doctor who administered an anxiety medication and sent me straight a psychiatrist who then diagnosed me with moderately severe panic disorder.
“He put me on an anxiety medication so I could at least function. I was kind of OK, but a shell of the person I used to be living in constant anxiety and fear. After a few months on the medication I decided, ‘No I don’t want to be on medication anymore.'”
Monique appears happy in all of her Instagram photos, but it is far from reality.
(Image: Instagram @moniquemorley)It was then Monique dedicated herself to turning her life around, practising meditation and yoga and reading books on how to overcome anxiety.
“I thought if I could learn as much as I could about the condition I could control it,” she confesses.
“Now two years on I am medication free, I have a hearing aid to help with the hearing loss/tinnitus and want to share my story in the hope of assisting others.”
If you or someone you know is suffering with anxiety, look for help at beyondblue.org.au
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