"Too many things happened at once." The moment that almost broke Constance Hall.

Content warning: This post discusses suicidal ideation and may be distressing for some readers. 

Constance Hall has opened up to Stellar about the impact that two lawsuits and a separation had on her mental health.

The mother-of-seven explained that the stress of so many traumatising experiences in one timeframe left her feeling suicidal at one point.

“I’ve had days when I’m stressed out about a court case, when someone threatens to publish my phone number and then I’m served some more papers,” the 34-year-old told Stellar magazine.

“And I’m just lying on my bed thinking ‘I could just jump off that balcony, it would be so much easier than dealing with all the things I have to deal with’,” she continued.

It wasn’t until Constance thought about her friends with terminal cancer that she felt as though she needed to ‘get a grip’.

Constance was dealing with two lawsuits against her for breach of contract, whilst she was also in the process of divorcing her ex-husband Bill Mahon, who publicly alleged that she had cheated.

“That’s definitely clipped my wings,” Constance says of the legal matters she’s faced. “I might be having a sh*t day because of that, but I can’t really talk about it, legally.”

Now, however, Constance believes the hardest struggle is behind her.

“I think that is all behind me now, though,” she told Stellar. “I think that after everything I’ve gone through, nothing is going to stress me out, career-wise.

“I love, love, love what I do now and I am not as affected by the hatred. It was obviously something I had to go through to learn that lesson.”

Earlier this year, Constance opened up to Mia Freedman on the No Filter podcast about her experiences with making, and spending, money.

In total, Hall had sold 175,000 copies of her book, with each copy selling for $27. While costs such as printing and distribution were significant, Like A Queen made Hall ‘rich’ in every sense of the word.

“A lot of money came in, and then a lot of money came out,” she said.

“I bought a house… and then there’s like your tax, and the people you have to pay, I don’t know where all the money went.

“We toured the world, and we didn’t charge anyone for the tickets for the tours. We donated $175,000. So, like, I’ve had to do my finances lately, and I’ve been very surprised to learn I might have about $200,000 left and that’s going into my renovations.

“I thought I was richer than that,” she said.

Since Hall didn’t grow up with a lot of money, she takes budgeting and staying free of debt very seriously.

“I went and bought a house in Margaret River, which was like only $500,000, which I know like ‘only’, but it wasn’t like I was going to buy a f**king mansion,” she says.

“Because I was brought up quite poor, mum was a single mum and I have got this fear of debt, so my whole life I’ve thought, imagine being mortgage free and not having to worry.

“When people saw how much money I was earning they were like, ‘you could borrow and you could do this,’ and I was like I’m not borrowing anything, I’ve never had a credit card, I’ve never had a car loan, I just want to live in my means.”

Two years on from the release of her bestselling book, Constance says she still needs to budget.

“I earn a wage of $2,500 a week and that’s gone by the end of the week,” she says.

“So if a kid wants a new bike we have to budget for that, we can’t just go like here’s your new bike.”

Constance reminds herself that she doesn’t have a mortgage, and her kids are in daycare three days a week, which is a huge privilege.

Constance Hall is a beautiful reminder of the way that life can turn around, even from the darkest places.

Listen to the full No Filter interview with Mia Freedman below.

If you or a loved one are struggling you can contact one of the following services.

Beyond blue 1300 224 636 www.beyondblue.org.au

MensLine Australia 1300 789 978 www.mensline.org.au

SANE Australia Helpline 1800 18 SANE (7263) www.sane.org

Read the abundant success stories of people who have turned their life around after suffering from depression.