Can therapy save Sophie?

This was only the latest in a long list of public histrionics. A few days ago, Sophie Anderton resolved to flee Britain in a bid to leave her troubled life behind her, but as she was put into a taxi by her agent, she collapsed into sobs.

For the model who made her name as the Gossard girl, it was yet another unedifying performance. After seven years at the centre of London's most fashionable circles, the glamorous 26-year- old is burned out and having what appears to be a nervous breakdown.

Last week, her mother told the Mail that her family are 'very concerned' for Sophie's state of mind.

She is spending a month at the New-Age Recovery Ranch near Nashville, Tennessee, and taking part in 'equine therapy' sessions, where patients go riding and try to be more 'spiritual, honest and sensitive' - like horses. The £5,000 bill is being paid by her boyfriend, Mark Bosnich, the Chelsea goalkeeper who was sacked for drug-taking.

Her flight into the clinic, which treats alcohol and drug addictions, has not come as a surprise to friends. In fact, for several months, Sophie has been in the grip of erratic behaviour. Modelling assignments have been cancelled at the last moment, there was an ugly fight with other models and screaming matches with Bosnich.

She is drinking - heavily on occasion - and there are other rumours, which are inevitable given her history of cocaine abuse. Her model agency, Storm, has had several meetings with her.

This latest health crisis coincides with the crumbling of her romance with Bosnich. Sophie is nursing a broken heart over the situation, but her mother is delighted that the affair is drawing to a close.

More seriously, according to those close to her, she is struggling with
deeper emotional problems. She has spoken of a battle with ' selfloathing', and says she may be temperamentally unsuited to the egocentric world of modelling.

She has complained to friends of feeling abandoned by her father, whose relationship with her mother foundered when she was just a baby. And she has a complicated relationship with her mother, who allowed her to set up home on her own in London at the age of only 16.

A friend said: 'She talks a lot about her parents. She would go on about how she never felt she even knew her dad, and how her mum was never around when she needed her.'

Her father, Michael Anderton, who lives in Bristol with his wife and family, told the Mail he is only in 'erratic touch' with his daughter. He added that he knew nothing about her latest predicament.

It seems the pressures of this background and the experience of seven years of fame have led Sophie to entertain suicidal thoughts.

'She often says how terrible her life is and that she would like to end it all,' the friend added. 'She is very insecure and unhappy, and always seems to be bursting into tears.'

Friends are delighted that she is trying to sort herself out. But they say - ironically, given that he is paying for her stay - that her relationship with Bosnich has put her under pressure.

Their troubled relationship has apparently dredged up the old feelings of worthlessness which she thought she'd left behind when she made the break with her former fiancè Robert Hanson, the playboy son of Lord Hanson. How sad that her 'fairytale' career should lead to this.

In classic supermodel fashion, Sophie was discovered when she was just 16. Success came quickly - and with it a fast and turbulent lifestyle. At 19, thanks to Gossard, she was a star.

Her stormy romance with Hanson began when she was 20 and he was 36. The liaison filled the gossip columns but made Sophie miserable. She told police he had hit her when she was discovered drinkdriving in the £35,000 Mercedes he'd bought for her.

Aged 21, she took an overdose of sleeping pills and alcohol following a phone row with him. Cocaine was found in her system. Sophie says she recovered at a 'spa' in the U.S., but has admitted that she had a nervous breakdown and needed help.

Two years ago, she set up home in South Africa, where she had an affair with businessman Greg Cartoulis. When that ended, she returned to London.

She and Bosnich met in a nightclub in March 2002. He was a handsome Australian, earning £42,000 a week. Within six months she had moved into his Knightsbridge flat. 'He hasn't asked me to marry him yet, but I'm ready the moment he proposes,' she said.

But Bosnich was not the kind of man her family or friends would have chosen. Cartoulis, who had helped her to give up alcohol for almost a year, pleaded with her: 'Don't get back in with that bad crowd in London.'

But Sophie did exactly that. She also started drinking again.

From the start, her relationship with Bosnich was volatile. Sophie threw a glass of champagne over his head at a party after he asked if she wanted to go home.

Then, last autumn, came the bombshell: Bosnich had failed a random drugs test for cocaine. He claims he drank a spiked glass of champagne. He was sacked by Chelsea and banned for nine months by the FA.

The crisis would have tested the sturdiest of relationships, and their rocky romance went downhill fast.

Sophie's mother, Sue Deacon, said: 'She has been under tremendous strain. I think she stood by Mark because she thought it was the best thing she could do at the time, although we wouldn't have chosen that she stayed with him.'

Asked if they were still together, she said: 'I don't know if she's split up with Mark, but I'd certainly hope so.' It seems clear where she lays the blames for Sophie's volatile behaviour.

Earlier this year, Sophie herself realised Bosnich was making her unhappy. 'We have been on the verge of splitting up. I don't know where we are going these days. Mark is drinking too much, he's gambling too much. Hell, he owes me loads of money. What's a girl to do?' she said.

Friends think she will end their romance when she has regained her strength. Her mother even hopes that Sophie might give up modelling: 'But right now she needs to sort out this big mess she is in. We are praying for her.'

But will divine intervention be enough to save Sophie from the demons that have tormented her for so long?