Rachel Hunter: 'Heart problem was wake-up call'

Rachel Hunter has revealed that her heart condition was a "wake-up call" for her.

The former supermodel, who has 18-year-old daughter Renee and 16-year-old son Liam with ex-husband Rod Stewart, recently suffered from a serious heart inflammation as well as a back problem that required surgery.

Hunter told Woman's Day magazine: "It's a good wake-up call. What I learned through all these medical issues was that I was fortunate enough to catch them in time. During six months, it was like, 'Why is this happening to me?' But I had a lot of time to realise I needed to slow down."

She said that when she first began feeling "out of breath" and "a bit weird", she thought she was just recovering from the flu, but she later started experiencing "shoulder pain" and was "very cold".

Doctors soon discovered that a virus had spread to her heart wall, which later led to myocarditis.

"It's a very scary thing to go through," she said. "Now when I get a cold, I get worried. It can be dangerous, but they caught it in time. It took me a couple of months to recover."

The 41-year-old star said that life is "exciting" at the moment because her children are thriving and Stewart is an "amazing" dad to them.

Stewart welcomed eighth child Aiden with wife Penny Lancaster earlier this year. He later described him as a "miracle baby".

Hunter split from ice hockey player Jarret Stoll in 2009, just three weeks before their wedding.