Unique : a memoir

In national treasure Dame Kelly Holmes' most personal book yet, she tells the true story behind her extraordinary life from army recruit to Olympic hero and much- loved TV personality. Last year, Dame Kelly came out publicly as being gay and revealed that for the first 52 years of her life she'd been living a LIFE OF FEAR.

Now in a heart-rending and inspirational new memoir she tells of her journey from hiding her sexuality as a young soldier at a time when being gay in the military was illegal, to her fears of being outed as she stood on the podium at the Athens Olympics, the games which catapulted her to fame as a double-gold medallist. Dame Kelly tells how she has managed to find happiness and inner peace as she has opened herself to a world where she's finally free to be herself, and proud.

In the last year she has become an unofficial ambassador for the LGBT community and has become one of the best- loved faces of daytime TV, joining the regular panel of ITV's Loose Women. This honest memoir is a tale of self-discovery, overcoming struggles and learning to be true to yourself. This honest memoir is a tale of self-discovery, overcoming struggles and learning to be true to yourself.

Dame Kelly says: "80,000 people were chanting my name as I stood on top of a double-decker bus and did a victory lap of my hometown.

I'd won two Olympic gold medals, the first woman the UK to ever do that, and I should have been on top of the world at my homecoming parade but even in that magical moment I had this deep fear that someone was going to go to the media and out me for being gay. "All my life I lived with that fear and anxiety of not being accepted if I lived publicly as my true self.

But 18 years later I was standing on stage in Trafalgar Square at London Pride, and people were chanting for me again, this time for the person I have become and I was finally free to be me.

Nothing is perfect, the journey continues and I'm learning every day about the community I'm now proud to be part of.

But I'm being true to myself and that means everything."