Jamaican fashion model Alicia Burke has opened up to fans about her struggles with depression and hinted at other trauma she isn’t yet ready to reveal.

In an Instagram Live Q&A with followers Sunday evening, the 5 ft 10 in beauty didn’t go into detail about what caused her depression, but said she at times would struggle to get out of bed and wouldn’t want to be around anyone else.

She said that, for her, one of the hardest things about dealing with depression was the fact that, because of her profession, she would often have to interact with so many people and pretend that everything was OK when it wasn’t.

Through therapy, however, she has learned coping methods and come to recognise the importance of not hiding your pain.

“Growing up in a Jamaican household, it isnt something that we talked about. It was something that was pushed aside. ‘Yo, I’m struggling with this’. They will tell you, ‘Go wash the dishes, go clean your room, go do something’ and so, because of that, I would always feel like something was wrong talking about… it’s a stigma or whatever, but you know what, talking about it really helps,” Burke said.

Responding to other questions from fans about how she keeps her weight down, Burke, 26, also admitted to once struggling with a desire to stay between 115 and 120lbs and finding herself not eating whenever she got a little heavier.

But, now, the winner of Pulse Models’ Caribbean Model Search 2015 says she has fallen in love with her few extra curves.

She also told fans that physical perfection is no requirement for becoming a model as she showed off a number of scars on her hands she said she received from her days as a tomboy back home in Jamaica.

Burke, who hails from St Catherine and attended St Mary’s College in the parish before transferring to Vere Technical in Clarendon, said she had planned to become a midwife before a friend dared her to step through the doors at Pulse less than a decade ago.

Since winning the Caribbean Model Search, she has become Pulse’s premier supermodel and one of the biggest successes coming out of the TV competition, producing an impressive and extensive body of work which has catapulted her to the top ranks of modeling worldwide.

Debuting at the F/W 2016 Bottega Veneta show, she walked for Miu Miu, Gucci, Schiaparelli, Dolce & Gabbana, Tommy Hilfiger, Stella McCartney, Ralph Lauren, Prabal Gurung, Blumarine, and Emporio Armani among others.

She has also walked for Valentino, Chloé, Jason Wu, La Perla, Anna Sui, Diane von Fürstenberg, Oscar de la Renta, and Carolina Herrera.

Burke has also appeared on the covers of Vogue Italia and Harper’s Bazaar UK, as well as in beauty advertisements for Bobbi Brown, Gucci, Laura Mercier, NARS Cosmetics, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Tom Ford.

She has done editorials for WSJ, Vogue Japan, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, Interview, V, and Vogue Paris and been ranked by models.com as a ‘Money Girl’.

With all her success and being the first of 12 children (even though her father has told her he isn’t finished yet), Burke said it’s sometimes hard having to be a role model for her siblings.

Because of this, Burke, who said she is satisfied being single for now, said she was glad to be in New York where she can just be herself and not worry about her influence on her brothers and sisters.