Fifi Trixibelle Geldof: 'I have suffered from clinical depression since the age of 11'

Eldest Geldof daughter says she was inspired to talk openly about her condition for the first time after news of Robin Williams' suicide

Fifi Trixibelle Geldof has opened up about suffering from clinical depression for the first time (Rex Features)

Fifi Trixibelle Geldof has spoken openly for the first time about suffering from clinical depression since the age of 11.

The daughter of Bob Geldof and Paula Yates, who has kept herself out of the limelight for all of her adult life, said she chose to open up about her depression following the news of Robin Williams’ suicide last month.

The 31-year-old said depression was “nothing to be ashamed of” and told herself she needed to “grow some b******s, come forward and say something".

Speaking publicly for the first time about the severity of her condition, she told the Mail on Sunday that she has been unable to get out of bed, shower or eat at times due to her depression.

“You exist in this gloomy shell of a person. But you learn to deal with it,” she said.

Fifi, who calls herself the ‘unknown Geldof', said her depression was diagnosed during the time of her parent’s acrimonious divorce in 1996 when she was ordered by a court to see a therapist.

She added that her depression and her decision to talk openly about it for the first time has nothing to do with the recent death of her younger sister Peaches earlier this year.

“I’m not going to link depression back to Peaches. It’s nothing to do with Peaches. I can’t, in all honesty, attribute my sadness about my sister’s death to depression,” she said.

Despite suffering from the illness for most of her life, Fifi said she has never told her father about her depression.

She also revealed she has never taken any medication for her condition, other than self-medicating on drugs and alcohol in her late teens.

“I’ve never taken antidepressants but who am I to say no one else should? People should try and treat their depression however they deem fit. Some people won’t want to get to the bottom of it."

She added: “Quite frankly, there is no bottom of it. Depression just exists.”

Read more: Peaches Geldof, Paula Yates and the legacy of tragedy