Page 3 star Jo Guest's beauty ravaged by illness that left her too exhausted to have sex

Back in the nineties, you couldn’t open a newspaper without seeing glamour model Jo Guest striking a sexy pose.

The bubbly blonde was a Page 3 favourite and one of the most successful stars of that era before a mystery illness struck from nowhere and destroyed her gorgeous looks and career.

Derbyshire-born Jo, 47, had just quit London for Bournemouth in an effort to live a healthier life when she suddenly started to experience extreme bloating in 2007.

Despite having given up drinking and smoking in favour of exercise and smoothies, her swollen stomach made her look four months pregnant, and she soon began suffering from vomiting, exhaustion and aching limbs.

Jo Guest was a Page 3 favourite (Image: ExpressStar)

A mystery illness destroyed Jo’s life

She told This Morning: “One day I tried to put on my favourite boots and couldn’t zip them up – I realised my calves were swollen. I thought maybe it was down to the change in my lifestyle.

“At first I thought it was just a virus, but it just wouldn’t stop. I was getting up and being sick all morning and having to spend the afternoon in bed.”

Too tired to work – or even to wash more than once a week – Jo was forced to sell her flat and flog knickers and memorabilia from her glamour modelling days on ebay.

After a raft of tests and scans, doctors couldn’t find what was wrong, leaving the FHM pin-up devastated.

“When you come out of hospital and you’re told everything’s normal, you should be happy, but I don’t want to be told everything’s normal — I just want to be told what’s wrong with me,” she added.

She was finally diagnosed with ME and fibromyalgia, which causes extreme exhaustion and agonising pain in muscles and joints.

Initially she responded well to treatment, but the drugs stopped working and her condition became even worse, forcing her to abandon plans to do a live webcam for an adult channel.

With debts of £15,000, Jo had just £65 a week in benefits to live on.

And the illness wreaked havoc on her money-making looks, with Jo admitting she even turned her back on romance because she felt too unattractive and exhausted to be loved.

She told the Daily Star at the time: “Why would any man want to have sex with me now? I feel so unattractive and I’ve got this horrible belly.

“I used to love wearing sexy clothes and short skirts, but I don’t enjoy dressing up any more. The spark has gone out of life. It’s hard to feel good about yourself or like a sexy woman when you feel so ill.

Jo said the condition destroyed her looks (Image: ds)

“I had this terrible blonde hair with roots that were inches long, this swollen belly and a fag hanging out of my mouth. I felt awful. At least I could change the hair, so I dyed it brown.”

Jo was housebound for three agonising years. And when her beloved dog Molly was diagnosed with cancer, she began to research ways to take her own life.

“I’ve been down ever since I became ill. My life has been taken away,” she told the Daily Star.

“I was always a fun-loving party girl, then all of a sudden I was too ill and in too much pain to even leave the house.

“I fell into a dark, dark place after the vet told me Molly’s cancer had spread and she was about to die. The news pushed me over the edge. I couldn’t face my life any more and I searched the net to find the best way to kill myself.

She reached rock bottom when Molly fell ill (Image: ExpressStar)

“I came close a few times and had to phone the Samaritans in the middle of the night. They talked me out of it.

“And I couldn’t bring myself to do it while Molly was alive because she had nobody to look after her.

Jo was eventually diagnosed with depression and thankfully got the help she needed before returning to Men & Motors and starring on their You Tube channel.

Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk